Texas Children’s Cardiac Developmental Outcomes Program (CDOP) recently had the honor of celebrating its 10-year anniversary with patients and families at the Houston Zoo. The CDOP offers routine developmental and behavioral follow-up throughout childhood for all babies and infants with congenital heart disease who undergo procedures during the first months of life.
“The event had a fantastic turnout with numerous CDOP patients and families in attendance,” said Allie Johnson, clinical nurse coordinator and event organizer. “Patients had a blast getting their faces painted, connecting with others who shared similar stories and getting to explore the zoo exhibits with their families.”
There were also Texas Children’s physicians, nurses, social workers and medical assistants in attendance who volunteered their time to make the experience memorable for attendees.
“Now in its 11th year, we have more than 2,000 children in the CDOP, all benefitting from routine surveillance by our experts in developmental and behavioral pediatrics and psychology,” said Pediatrician-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine Dr. Lara Shekerdemian. “Subtle problems in infants and young children can eventually have major long-term impacts on development, learning abilities and overall quality of life for children with congenital heart disease, but often go unnoticed as they are very difficult to identify without expert assessments.”
According to Dr. Shekerdemian, early identification of these problems provides our patients the opportunity for early intervention with additional services, “so that we can offer the best possible long term outcome in every possible sense. This is exactly what the program is all about.”
While this is the first event of its kind for the program, the team is hopeful to host additional events and virtual workshops for patients and families in the future.
