Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Herma Heart Institute helps children beyond the hospital

"It's never about me," said Kyle Landry. "It's about how many kids I can get to go home. How many kids can I get to go to school. How many kids can have lives that are so different than the one my sister would have had."

Heart defects are the most common birth defect in the world. And kids born with heart defects are at greater risk for emotional, behavioral and social struggles later in life. As recently as 10-20 years ago, most of these kids didn’t survive. They never made it into a classroom. But great medical advancements have been made recently and now most of these kids are surviving and thriving. That has posed an interesting new problem, especially for teachers and schools.

Five years ago Kyle Landry started a first-of-its-kind program that helps manage the unique needs of kids born with heart defects as they enter school. The School Intervention Program serves as a communication hub between the family, the school and the hospital. Every child enrolled in the program is assigned a school intervention specialist who collaborates with the school in order to boost academic success, motivation, attendance, attention, behavior and social-emotional functioning. From just 12 kids that first year, now more than 350 kids are helped by this program.

Read the full story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.