Support and Outreach
Stony Brook Children's cardiology division includes a pediatric nurse practitioner, Marybeth Heyden, DNP, who works closely with families to help them understand and cope with their child's diagnosis. Marybeth serves as the care coordinator for two different multidisciplinary programs:
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Fetal Heart Program (FHP): The fetal heart program was established to help support and educate the parents of a child prenatally diagnosed with a heart problem. This multidisciplinary team helps the family obtain crucial information about their child’s diagnosis and works closely with the OB and neonatology to ensure a safe delivery plan for the baby.
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Coordinated Fetal Care Program (CFCP): The coordinated fetal care program was established to help support and educate the parents of any child diagnosed with a medical problem prenatally. This multidisciplinary program includes experts in pediatric cardiology, maternal fetal medicine, neonatology, pediatric surgery and pediatric surgical subspecialties (orthopedics, urology, neurosurgery), genetics, neurology, nephrology, endocrinology, hematology and palliative care. The CFCP aims to coordinate the care needed for these complex pregnancies, to optimize communication among the care team and to ensure that the family feels well supported and informed. The CFCP team works together to ensure a safe delivery plan for the baby.
- Fit Kids for Life: Stony Brook Children's Peter Morelli, MD, is the Medical Director of the Fit Kids for Life program, which is one component of The Healthy Weight & Wellness Center. With obesity more than doubling in children and tripling in adolescents over the past 30 years, The Healthy Weight & Wellness Center brings the resources to Suffolk County in a positive, highly individualized, multidisciplinary and family-friendly way. The Fit Kids for Life program works on the patient's overall fitness level and calorie-burning activity through a 10-week program that helps educate children ages 8 to 17, who are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.