Governor Bill Haslam has signed a proclamation for Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week to be Feb.7-14 in the state of Tennessee.
According to the American Heart Association, as many as 40,000 babies are born each year with congenital heart defects, which makes them the leading birth defect, affecting a million American families.
Last year, Tennessee was one of the first states in the nation to pass legislation requiring newborns to undergo a non-invasive pulse oximetry screening for potential heart defects – a test which is expected to save the lives of multiple Tennessee newborns each year.