Pediatric Heart Surgery Patient Resources

Our  family-centered care approach

Our heart patient families often say that they feel like we are family to them. We are dedicated to a family-centered care approach where we care for your whole child and family. We have a variety of resources to make your child’s care and stay with us as pleasant as possible. These include:

• Social services. Your family is assigned a social worker who accompanies you during your child’s heart care journey, helping you navigate care and living needs. They help you manage life at the hospital, provide emotional support, help with language and cultural needs, facilitate care conferences, and more.
• Lodging support. If you live outside of our area, we welcome you to take advantage of our lodging assistance services. For example, if your child needs a heart transplant, they may need to reside in the hospital for heart support while they await a donor heart. Our families take advantage of our stylish, comfortable Ronald McDonald House at Stanford.
• Psychological care. Having a heart condition, especially a highly complex one, can be stressful and traumatic for your child and family. That’s why we have a specialized Cardiac Psychology Program for children with an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) and heart failure/heart transplant.
• Nutritionists, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, airway specialists, and other support teams. Our doctors are supported by a wide range of medical specialists to ensure that your child is in optimal health during their stay with us.