It Really Does Take a Village

The responsibilities of pediatric cardiologists are no longer limited to seeing that an infant with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) survives to childhood. Today, there are more adults than children with complex CHD, and the numbers continue to increase by about 5 percent a year. In an important article recently published in Heart, by Michelle Gurvitz, MD, FACC, and Arwa Saidi, MB, BCh, FACC, titled, "Transition in Congenital Heart Disease: It Takes a Village," the authors assert that we must help older children and adolescents with CHD prepare for the opportunities and challenges of adult life and it will take a village.