Collective Well is a fitness training program that aims to improve not just physical fitness of patients with Congenital Heart Defects (CHDs), but also promote belief in physical abilities not constrained by CHDs.
Project Overview
The Collective Well solution focuses on the impact fitness can have on a patient’s “thriving” levels: a sense of meaning and purpose as well as the associated health outcomes including: patient satisfaction, healthcare resource utilization, and patient engagement. Children with CHDs have always been given exercise restrictions due to their condition, however physical activity is actually quite important for this population, and for many other patients living with chronic disease.
The Cardiac Fitness Program utilizes a three-pronged approach with these specialized needs in mind. This includes a 4-month in-person exercise training curriculum, a “Victory” mindset journal, an “Ignyte” fitness app that motivates and tracks exercise data, and home exercise videos partnering patients with professional athletes.
Healthcare Context
Congenital heart defects (CHDs) affect approximately 40,000 births per year in the United States and prevalence is increasing every year. An estimated 1 million children and 1.4 million adults are currently living with CHDs. The focus has always been on the survival of the patient, but pediatric specialty medicine has improved to the point where now 85% of infants with CHD are expected to survive to adulthood. Given this progress, it is merely not enough that the patient just survive, they should also thrive.
Interested in learning more about Collective Well?
Send us an email at accelerator@childrens.harvard.edu