My Heart Award

The My Heart Award will be awarded to young half a heart members who have demonstrated that they have increased their understanding of their heart condition and the treatments they have had in the past and the treatments they will have in the future.

It might be awarded if a child or young person has attended one of the LHM Understanding My Heart sessions or who have learnt about their heart at the hospital or in school.

Their teachers, doctors, nurses or activity leaders will need to tell us about how much they think each young person has learnt and how much they understand.

Many children and young people who have had a disability since birth grow up having little understanding of their condition because of course their parents have always taken charge. The My Heart Award aims to encourage young heart affected members to gain a greater understanding of their heart condition and empower them to get involved in their health care.

Who is eligible for an award?

Little Hearts Matter child and young adult members with a single ventricle heart condition can be nominated for the My Heart Award.

All nominees have to be 8 to 18 years old.

There is no restriction on the number of times a child or young adult can be nominated for an award but the nomination must be for a different activity or newly learnt skill.

Who can make an application?

Award nominations for the My Heart Award must be made by:

Parents, nurses, doctors, psychologists, teachers, club leaders or LHM staff. They can put children or young adults living with a single ventricle heart condition up for an award by completing and submitting one of the following applications.

If a parent or family member submits the nomination the application must be supported with information and evidence from an independent representative. The application needs to clearly demonstrate how the child or young adult has increased their knowledge and involvement in their heart care and how they have used that knowledge to clearly take great steps forward. If the information is not clear the applicant may be asked to reapply at a later date.

A visit to the hospital would not automatically count for an award but if the child/young adult nomination can show how their knowledge has increased during a hospital stay, for example, learning to do their own INR tests or getting involved in decision making about their care, or perhaps how they have conquered a fear of needles or treatments. Their doctors or nurses can add to the application to strengthen the nomination.

Application dates

Applications will be assessed by a team of independent assessors taken from within the charity and one external assessor from outside the organisation.

Applications will be assessed twice a year so nominations need to reach the team by the end of the following months:

• January – February
• September to October

The applications will be assessed  by a team of young adult members, LHM staff and Trustees. They will use a clear scoring system to make sure that every application is treated fairly.

There will be no upper limit to the number of awards made each month.

If an application misses an application deadline it will be forwarded to the next quarterly assessment.

Raising awareness of the awards and the prize winners

Little Hearts Matter wants to be able to applaud the Brave Heart Winners because of their success.

A designated platform for the awards will be created within the Youth Zone section of the charity’s website which will be linked from the front page of the website.

All awards will be announced within LHM internet and social media sites.

If consent has been given by the award winner and their parents/guardians, a profile of each award winner will be posted as part of a quarterly award announcement.

Press support will be offered to each child if they or their family wish to highlight the award within local press and a school’s information pack will be made available to raise the profile of the award and the charity within each recipient’s school.

To nominate a child or young adult for the My Heart Award please complete and submit the application form below: