SuperGrans Manawatū manager Joanne Baird (left) and Heart Kids NZ family support taituarā Julie Meehan with some of the pyjamas volunteers have made. Photo / Judith Lacy
SuperGrans Manawatū manager Joanne Baird (left) and Heart Kids NZ family support taituarā Julie Meehan with some of the pyjamas volunteers have made. Photo / Judith Lacy
A chest scar can be part of life for children with a congenital heart defect.
They might be keen to show it off but as they grow older they might become self-conscious of how they are different from other people.
This can be part of the journey for children with a congenital heart defect, Heart Kids NZ Manawatū-Whanganui branch committee member Joanne Baird said.
She used to be the family support worker for the branch and is now the manager of SuperGrans Manawatū.
It’s the second year SuperGrans has run a winter pyjamas drive and the second year volunteers have made some for Heart Kids NZ.
Julie Meehan is the branch’s family support taituarā based in Palmerston North. She said the eight families appreciated the donation of custom-made PJs.
Heart Kids NZ can begin providing support before a baby is born. A mum might be told at her 20-week scan there is an issue with the baby’s heart.
The non-profit organisation has two staff who support families at Starship hospital in Auckland.
Meehan says parents are uprooted from their home. Some families might be there for most of the baby’s first year. Heart Kids NZ can help with groceries and meals when the family goes home.
Support workers can’t help with anything medical as they are not doctors or nurses.
Connecting parents is part of Meehan’s job. She organises coffee groups in Palmerston North, Levin and Whanganui.
“That’s wonderful for mums and dads because they are meeting other families on a similar journey.”
She checks in to see how parents and children are doing. People appreciate knowing someone remembered.
A mum Meehan texted recently to say she was doing an amazing job replied: “You don’t know how much I needed that.”
Meehan organises family events such as 10-pin bowling or a movie and, if requested, can attend Starship clinics at Palmerston North Regional Hospital.
Meehan’s area extends from Eketāhuna and Dannevirke down to Ōtaki, across to Whanganui and up to Waiouru and Ohakune. The branch has more than 300 families on its books.
A heart defect is the most common birth defect in New Zealand and each week 12 babies are born with the condition. About 50 Kiwi kids a year will lose their battle with the condition.
Meehan works 20 hours a week and comes from a carer background.
”I love people, that’s my heart and I can empathise with people.”
From cute flannette prints to kits for sewers to completed pjyamas for community groups to give to children. Photo / Judith Lacy
Heart Kids is one group SuperGrans is supporting this winter
Baird said anything to do with the heart is scary and the mother’s journey has gone in a different way to how they thought it would. It is a club no one wants to join and one they didn’t sign up for.
The Heart Foundation supports people with an acquired heart condition while Heart Kids also looks after children born with one and those with rheumatic heart disease.
Heart Kids NZ’s annual street appeal is on September 27 and 28.
The Manawatū branch’s Heart Stopper Challenge is on November 10 in Te Marae o Hine/The Square. Everyone is welcome to participate.
Judith Lacy has been the editor of the Manawatū Guardian since December 2020. She graduated from journalism school in 2001 and this is her second role editing a community paper.
