From the moment a new baby arrives, the worry begins for a mother.
"You come home and you're just like 'okay, now it's my responsibility to take care of them. What do I do?'," said Amy Carr, a Lynchburg mother who just delivered her second child this week.
Taking care of a infant is a lot easier when you know they're healthy. That's why some Virginia hospitals are starting to screen for birth defects before a child leaves the hospital.
"Heart defects are the most common congenital birth defect," said Mark Townsend, a pediatric cardiologist at Centra.
"There are significant numbers of kids out there, who are born with complex forms of heart disease," Townsend said.
The Virginia Department of Health is addressing those numbers, by starting a new program.
Six hospitals throughout the state, including Virginia Baptist in Lynchburg, will perform heart screenings on infants.
"This will help catch babies that would otherwise fall through the cracks, been discharged and by the end of the week been very severely ill," said Townsend.
It's estimated that one in every 100 babies has some form of heart disease. 4 in 1,000 have a severe form that could lead to an early death.
"If it wasn't picked up, there's a chance the baby would pass away," said Townsend.
Early detection allows doctors to form a long-term plan for treatment. The screening that's being done at Virginia hospitals involves putting a small sensor on the baby's hands and feet.
"It's not invasive and it certainly doesn't hurt," Townsend said. "It's just a little light that is shown through the fingernail and toenail."
The new screenings are expected to save several hundred babies every year.
It's a small number, but it means a lot to parents.
"It just seems like a fabulous, non-invasive way to find out if they're healthy or not," said Carr, who's son Levi was screened and found to have a healthy heart.
Virginia Baptist is the only hospital in our region that's taking part in the state pilot program. Heart screenings will be performed on all new babies at the hospital by the end of March.
