SAN ANTONIO - Two-year-old Evan Hajda is considered a miracle baby, and his mom proudly shows his scar from open heart surgery when he was days old. Now the pediatric surgery team that performed his life-saving operation is ranked high across the state for treating specific heart diseases in children.
Allison Hajda says the Children's Heart Network at Christus Santa Rosa gave her a precious gift by saving Evan's life. The University of Texas Health Science Center of San Antonio operates the Children's Heart Network, which provides care to children with heart disease -- many needing surgery before six months of life.
Chief of Surgery S. Adil Husain says a statewide database of hospitals showed the Children's Heart Network had the highest survival rate of patients needing surgical repair for three congenital heart defects: transposition of the great arteries, tetralogy of Fallot and total anomalous pulmonary venous connection.
The team's mortality rate has been under 2.5 percent every year for six years and in 2011 was 1.4 percent.
The 2011 results also shows the San Antonio doctors, nurses and child care specialists ranked best for decreasing the amount of time patients spend in the hospital. Patients spend about 12 days in the hospital and the statewide average is 18. The Children's Heart Network also got high marks for offering medical care at a reasonable rate.
Husain says his team is humbled and honored by the results from a statewide database. The surgeon says it's rewarding because the team is able to give children, like Evan Hajda a chance to grow up healthy.
Now all his parents worry about is dealing with a rambunctious toddler.
