All About The Program
We are an extension of the medical team and the family unit. Our coordinators fill a critical healthcare gap by streamlining care, communication and access to resources—free of cost—and personalized for patients and their families.
Little Heroes League is the only care coordination program embedded at top-ranked Level IV NICUs across the United States.
Our Founding Story
Inspired by the journey of their granddaughter Livia, Kim and Will Ulaszek founded a charity, Little Heroes League, in partnership with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, to help babies born with medically complexity like Livi achieve their best life outcomes.
Our Founding Story
In her first year of life, Livi spent over 150 days in the ICU spread over four visits that required three heart surgeries (two open heart), one intestine surgery, intensive vision and hearing tests, numerous sedations, and countless therapies. She spent 12 weeks on a breathing machine and 51 consecutive days without being held by her parents.
And she’s only just begun her journey.
Our Founding Story
Livi and children like her thrive at home.
To enable Livi to maximize her time at home, her parents coordinated doctor visits, in and out-patient therapies, medications, feedings, surgeries, and federal and state resources – all while maintaining full-time jobs, navigating the complex healthcare and insurance systems, and going through the most emotional time of their lives. Livi is thriving because her parents made care coordination of her medical needs a priority.
Our Founding Story
That’s why Little Heroes League was founded:
to enable infants born with a distinct disadvantage to thrive and live their best lives.
Little Heroes League, with our partners Lurie Children’s Hospital, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI, The University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI, has implement a first-in-the-country program to provide care coordination for infants with medical complexity and their families to address this critical need in the hospital, at home, and in the community.
How the program works
Nurses and social workers are dedicated exclusively to these babies and serve as the point person to organize care for each of these children and to help the needs of their families.
Acting as an advocate for each baby, they coordinate multiple pediatric specialists, coordinate procedures and anticipate what each child needs. They are also adept at navigating the health care system, which can be a daunting task for parents of children with complex health needs.
They are the central contact and source of comfort for these families, whom they will also support by identifying social service and health care agencies closer to home, and conducting home visits.
Care Coordination Benefits
Care coordination
impacts babies
Reduces unnecessary & duplicative procedures
Reduces length of hospital stays
Reduces number of hospital admissions
Reduces Emergency Department visits
Reduces pain and enables more time at home
Accelerates development through critical therapies
Care coordination
impacts families
Reduces the emotional and physical stress
Reduces healthcare expenses
Fewer misunderstandings about medical care
Fewer missed days from work
Reduce travel to hospital
Improves discharge preparedness and home readiness
Program Impacts
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Babies are getting home (where they thrive) sooner from the hospital. Coordinated care shortens stays. Hospitals are more confident in parents' ability to care for their children.
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Children are staying home longer and spending less time in the hospital. Care coordinators help manage care at home and empower parents to provide effective care for their child.
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Reducing ER visits keeps kids home longer and avoids stress. Parents are more empowered to manage care at home
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Early Intervention is a critical community resource that maximizes the Little Hero’s physical, emotional, cognitive and social development. Our care coordinators ensure every patient is enrolled.
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Kids are attending critical appointments that keep them healthy and thriving. Care coordinators help stack appointments and find access to transportation.
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Activated portals means immediate communication access to providers and a single source of truth for the child’s medical history.
At Little Heroes League…
We lead the way
Inspired by the journey of their granddaughter Livia, Kim and Will Ulaszek founded a charity, Little Heroes League, an Affiliated Organization of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, to help babies born with medically complexity like Livi achieve their best life outcomes.
At Little Heroes League…
We lighten
the load
It takes a village to care for a medically-complex baby. Our program helps reduce the extraordinary demand on families and the medical team while enhancing critical support for babies. We work collectively to drive efficiency and communication in all matters related to the baby’s care.
At Little Heroes League…
We take an
equitable approach
We’re committed to leveling the staggeringly uneven playing field in access to resources and quality care. That’s why families with the greatest needs are equitably prioritized for services. Many factors are taken into account when identifying eligibility for the Little Heroes League program, including medical, socioeconomic and psychosocial needs.
At Little Heroes League…
We accelerate the family's
journey home, and increase their
ability to stay home
It’s in a baby’s best interest to maximize their time at home—but their high-level medical needs often keep them in the hospital for an extended time. Our inpatient services fill gaps that exist in most hospital systems, so families can get home faster. Our ground- breaking outpatient services support caregiving efforts once home, lowering the likelihood of readmissions, missed appointments and ER visits.
