Akron Life February 2022

Go Red For Women

Patricia Dudley, Child Guidance and Family Solutions, and Valerie Bailey Stutler, American Heart Association

ADDRESSING INFANT MORTALITY IN NORTHEAST OHIO

By Jessica Smylie

W hen you meet Amir Snell, you’re immediately drawn to his infectious smile, chubby cheeks, and his overall sense of happiness. You’d never know on first meeting that he’s a heart survivor. 1-year-old

“Amir has HLHS or Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome,” his mother Samantha Snell explains. “Essentially, the left side of his heart didn’t form correctly; it is smaller than the right. I found out when I was 23 weeks pregnant. Doctors were doing a routine ultra sound, and the nurse said there was something she wanted the doctor to take a closer look at. The doctor ordered additional tests, and that’s when they diagnosed the HLHS. It was traumatic. I cried for days.” Amir was 5 days old when he had his first open heart surgery.

“He was lucky to survive,” Samantha says. “It’s a very risky surgery for babies.” Amir came home from the hospital a month later and was on eight medications and round-the-clock oxygen. His second open heart sur gery was at 4 months old. He had a heart catheter inserted, and when the procedure didn’t go as planned, doctors had to restart his heart, twice. “In the next few years, Amir will need a third open heart surgery,” Samantha says. Amir is a true warrior. He’s an inspiration. He’s a fighter.

Unfortunately, every infant isn’t as lucky as Amir. Every year, approximately 42 infants die in Summit County. Even more staggering is that in 2018, Black infants in Ohio died at nearly three times the rate of white infants. That statistic reso nated with American Heart Association volunteer, Susan Poe Flowers, and she decided she wanted to be part of a solution. “Infant mortality rates shouldn’t be dependent upon color, ethnicity or zip code,” Flowers says.

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