The Regional Heart Program at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas is a comprehensive pediatric heart program serving an expansive 46-county area. Established in 1988, the program provides advanced medical and surgical care for children and adolescents with heart disease.
At Dell Children's Regional Heart Program, we have state-of-the-art cardiac operating rooms, catheterization labs, diagnostic equipment, patient rooms and healing spaces. Here, we manage and repair simple and complex heart defects while keeping patients and their families close to home.
What is special about the Regional Heart Program at Dell Children's?
- In 2010, we formed a partnership with one of the nation's leading medical schools, UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Children's Medical Center Dallas to expand our cardiac services at Dell Children's.
- Under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Forbess, Regional Heart Program Director and Chairman of the Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center, our physician partners work with the pediatric critical care team to provide world-class quality care to children with congenital heart defects and acquired heart diseases.
- At Dell Children's, a team of medical experts from across the state uses telemedicine (a network of electronic communication technologies) to collaborate and discuss care plans for patients, minimizing unnecessary diagnostic tests and shortening hospital stays.
- Dell Children's Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Program is the only pediatric ECMO program in Austin. ECMO is the use of mechanical devices to temporarily support heart or lung function during cardiopulmonary failure, providing time for a child's lungs and/or heart to rest and recover.
- The Regional Heart Program provides life saving operations for children from developing countries through collaboration with the HeartGift Foundation. These children leave Austin with repaired hearts and a new sense of hope for the future.
