September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month – a time to recognize children and survivors affected by pediatric cancer in order to raise awareness and continue the research and treatment of the disease.
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patient care
Robotic Puppies Bring Joy and Therapy to Patients at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health
Move over Rover, Otis-AI is taking lead. These cheery animatronic puppies strutted, fetched, and played with young patients at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.
From Patient to Registered Nurse: Overcoming Challenges to Achieve Her Dream
Getting her degree as a registered nurse is a dream come true for Misty Blue Foster. And she did so with the support of her caregivers at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.
Twins Share Everything, Including Celiac Disease
When Joseph and Devlin went for their wellness check at age 5, their pediatrician noticed that they were not gaining weight like they should. She suspected celiac disease—an autoimmune disorder that is genetically passed on within families.
Celebrating Women in Critical Care Transport: Caring for Patients on the Road and in the Air
The critical care transport teams have more than 30 years of experience as mobile intensive care units at Stanford Children’s and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.
Walking in Her Purpose: Nurse Leader Kimberly M. Williams on Health Equity
Kim Williams, DNP, discusses how her career journey informs her role as a Black nurse leader and her work in health equity.
‘It’s Listening’: Addressing Maternal Health Disparities
Throughout her career and her life, Irogue Igbinosa, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, has always noticed disparities in health outcomes for pregnant Black women. It’s an issue she’s now working to address.
Frequently Asked Questions about Screening for Food Insecurity
A Stanford Children’s team is deploying a systematic new way for our healthcare providers to ask about and respond to needs in patients’ lives that occur outside the medical system.
Leaping into the Year of the Rabbit at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health
The hospital’s annual Lunar New Year celebration was back in-person for the first time since the pandemic to ring in the Year of the Rabbit.
Social Services Spread Holiday Cheer
Fernando Hurtado, a social work resource coordinator at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, organized a toy drive to ensure that every patient in the hospital receives a special gift this holiday season.
The Novel Idea of Reading to Infants: How an Annual Reading Program Helps NICU Babies and Caregivers
George Rivosecchi says Stanford Medicine Children’s Health NICU Reading Program provides him and his daughter a great bonding experience.
Superheroes, SpongeBob, and Dinosaurs Take to Stanford Children’s Trick-or-Treat Trail
From giant inflatable pumpkins to balloons, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health caregivers transformed the Dawes Garden into an interactive Halloweentown to bring patients and their families a spook-tacular celebration.
Latinx Family Advisory Council Bridges Cultural Gaps in Health Care
Having a child in the hospital is tough on any family. But imagine if you had to navigate this in an unfamiliar culture or English wasn’t your first language.
Patients at Stanford Children’s Health Fall for Special Pumpkin Patch
The annual Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Pumpkin Patch Fall Festival at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford resumed outdoors in the Dunlevie Garden.
Helping the Hospital Feel Like Home: Chief Nursing Officer Jesus Cepero on how workforce diversity makes patients feel welcome
Jesus Cepero, PhD, RN, reflects on how his journey has taught him the benefits of workforce diversity for health care workers, hospitals, and, most important, for patients and families.
Teenager Finds Relief from Debilitating Pain with Robotic Surgery
Floating kidney resolved with minimally-invasive nephropexy surgery.
On the Road to Normal Eating for Baby Born With Laryngeal Cleft
At our aerodigestive center, we have a large multidisciplinary team—ENTs who intimately understand airway disorders, speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists who specialize in babies with swallowing disorders, pulmonologists who concentrate on aspiration, and gastroenterologists who understand reflux in the context of cleft.
Baby Toddling On After Surgery for Craniosynostosis
The craniosynostosis team is made up of multiple pediatric specialists including neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons.
A Turbulent Ride for Family Coping With Two GI Conditions
Pediatric Disease Center provides family with wrap-around care.
Healthy Skin Habits for Your Family
Pediatrician Nora Fahden, MD, with Stanford Medicine Children’s Health’s Bayside Medical Group in San Ramon, offers some tips for keeping skin healthy and what to do when there’s a problem.
New Center for Pediatric IBD and Celiac Disease
May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month, coinciding with the announcement of the new Center for IBD and Celiac Disease at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
Families Share How Network Doctors Have Made a Difference in Their Lives
Four families share the comprehensive and personalized support provided by care network physicians.
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Helps Physicians Focus on Extraordinary Care
Two of Stanford Medicine Children’s Health founding pediatricians share how the care network helps them bring the best care possible to their patients.
A Spring EGG-Stravaganza at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
Kids celebrate spring activity outside the patient room From bubbles to ice cream to therapy… Read more »
Proudly Celebrating 10 Years of the Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Care Network
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health celebrates the 10th anniversary of its care network.
Preschooler Thrives After a T-Ball Hit Saves His Life
Parents to 4-year-old Carter could never have known that a bump to his head during T-ball would lead to an unexpected discovery—a rare brain tumor.
Teen Closes in on Recovery after Meniscus Injury
After tearing his meniscus during a basketball game, Branden turned to the sports medicine experts at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
Rare Condition Does Not Stop Woman’s Dream of Becoming a Mother
Patient partners with Stanford physician to deliver successfully after previous NH diagnosis.
Best Present Ever! New Heart for Baby’s First Birthday
Baby born with a very rare condition received expert care culminating with a heart transplant from one of the best heart teams in the country.
Bucky’s Story: Meet the Youngest Baby to Have an Intricate Liver Surgery at Packard Children’s
Biliary atresia is a rare disease, occurring in about 1 in 12,000 U.S. births.
Short Bowel, Big Life for Adopted Girl
Cali was born with gastroschisis, a birth defect where her intestines grew outside her body.
Novel Treatment Eliminates Need for Liver Transplant in Newborn
A spirit of cooperation drives care and research at Packard Children’s.
Physicians Explain Why It’s Safe to Take Kids to Their Wellness Checks During the Pandemic
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health resumes care delayed by COVID-19.
A CORE Care Team Reduces Families’ Burden
A unique Stanford team helps families tackle the financial, logistical, and emotional challenges of caring for their medically complex children.
Improving Care of Newborns, One Baby at a Time
Stanford approach could potentially impact 100,000-plus newborns each year across the nation.
Hope Has a New Home
Nurses remember those who found strength in the Bass Center as they move to a new space.
Successful Mentoring Program Grows Beyond Nursing
The mentoring program provides new graduate nurses with the support they need to navigate their first year and practice their leadership skills.
Hope Sparks from Camp Fire Aftermath for Boy with Clubfoot
Rider is running and playing after surgery and bracing to treat his clubfoot.
Celebrating 1 year in our new hospital
One year ago on December 9, we moved 90 patients into our brand new Main… Read more »
Formerly conjoined twins reach major milestone
We recently checked in on the Sandoval twins of Antelope Valley, California. The girls, Erika and Eva, who are now 4-years-old, are smiling big as ever — with good reason!
Celebrating Celiac Disease Awareness Month
Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disorder that affects the digestive process of the small intestine, which is connected to the stomach.
A different kind of prom: Patients step out as “Enchanted Tiki” party-goers
The Packard Children’s community opened its “Enchanted Tiki” doors to hundreds of patients and their families for an evening of tropical splendor.
Lane Donnelly, MD, named chief quality officer
Dr. Donnelly will focus on continuously improving care quality and patient safety as well as consistently striving to help enhance outcomes.
A tech tour of the new Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
We are proud to use the latest technologies and innovations to usher in a new era of pediatric care.
Former cancer patient returns to open new doors
For Lydia, the impending opening of the new hospital brings back special memories, which ABC Bay Area highlighted in a recent story.
Magnet technology corrects spinal disorders
Kora has early onset scoliosis (EOS), a severe spinal curvature that occurs when vertebrae develop incorrectly in utero.
Eleazer Delgadillo named employee of the year
The occasion recognizes winners of the Grace Awards, Excellence in Leadership, Gold ROSE awards, and employees celebrating milestone anniversaries.
Stanford coach visits hospital
Tara VanDerveer, head coach of the Stanford women’s basketball team, addressed staff at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, and shared insights on teambuilding and achieving incredible feats.
Dozens of casts later, a future without clubfoot
Anna Davis has had more than 50 casts in her under 10 years due to clubfoot. Dr. Gamble, pediatric orthopedic specialist, has helped her through the challenges of treatment for the condition.
Seamless care from Monterey to Palo Alto saves baby with brain cyst
Karina Barger and her husband David Goldman noticed something unusual with their 2-month-old son Bobby. He was consistently looking to the left and couldn’t bring his eyes to look straight ahead.
Ronald McDonald House at Stanford celebrates “grand reopening”
Since it opened in 1979, the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford has provided a home-away-from-home for hundreds of families each year who travel outside their communities to access treatment for their critically ill children.
Patients and families dust off their boots for prom night in the Wild West
Teens across the country look forward to prom every year. It is a momentous occasion that marks the end of the school year. But for patients at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, prom night is extra special.
Calm in the midst of the storm
Child life specialists use age-appropriate education, preparation, and supportive activities to help normalize the hospital experience for children.
Mental-health resources for Bay Area teenagers increasing in 2017
For the last several years, adolescent mental health experts from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford have been partnering with many other community organizations to improve options for teens’ mental health care, a response to mental health crises among local teens.
When a family vacation abroad turns to tragedy: Finding life-saving care and support far away from home
What was meant to be a trip to Disneyland in late summer 2015 turned to tragedy. Now, more than a year following the horrible car accident that changed their lives forever, the Liu family of Beijing is bringing their little girl home.
Training for safer patient transport
“We see tremendous value in using simulation training to enhance our skills and improve patient safety during critical care transports.” Andrew Palmquist, RN Patient Care Manager for Medical Transport.
Containing the pain: Youth use photovoice to capture their experiences
If you’ve ever been in extreme or extended pain, you know how difficult it can be to put the experience in words. How then can doctors and pain psychologists understand what their patients are going through? And how can patients get the relief and connection that comes from articulating their experience?
Reducing alarm fatigue: Packard Children’s researchers apply big data to a big problem
Alarm fatigue is a big problem in hospitals, where automated monitors that track patients’ vital signs sound their alarms frequently, but the vast majority of alarms don’t indicate true crises. All the false alarms desensitize doctors and nurses to the beeping and can slow their responses to real emergencies.
Peeking inside the expanding Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
Ever since I started my job in 2008, I’ve been hearing about the huge expansion of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford that is slated to open in 2017. First it was an abstract idea, then a set of floor plans and renderings, then a fenced-off patch of dirt, then an enormous hole in the ground. Now the new building is a real, three-dimensional place, with floors, walls, windows, a roof.
Jungle-themed prom at Packard Children’s Hospital marked the near close of the school year: Patients, friends and families came out for an unforgettable evening
People tend to think of prom as a high school event, but at the K–12 school at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, it’s a special night for patients and families of all ages.
The mysterious story of a boy who survived a rare and deadly cancer
What would you do if your toddler had a very rare blood cancer and his treatments were failing? At what point would you decide that it was time to stop those treatments and make him as comfortable and happy as possible for whatever time he had left? That was the terrible decision faced by the parents of a young child with a form of leukemia so unusual and deadly that his doctors at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford didn’t know if anyone had ever survived it.
Child Life specialists help hospitalized kids handle stress and have fun
When children who’ve been ill or injured go home from the hospital, they often carry fond memories of their child life specialists, the folks who brought toys and games to their bedsides, explained medical procedures in a non-scary way, and helped their families worry less.
After radiation-free treatment for their son’s brain cancer, family travels 6100 miles every year to reunite with their care team at Packard Children’s
Recently, the Loh family, originally from the Bay Area, was in town for their annual visit from Shanghai to check in with son Elliot’s care team. They reflected on the experience of traveling across the world to give their son the best treatment possible.
Parents now help doctors decide what care is right for the sickest babies
Today, NPR’s Morning Edition featured an in-depth story on the evolution of decision-making in neonatal intensive care units – hospital nurseries for the sickest infants. Parents now have much more say in their babies’ care than in the past, and Stanford experts who were on the front lines of the change, including William Benitz, MD, chief of neonatology at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, explained how it happened.
Helping kids with chronic medical conditions make the jump to adult care
Specialists who treat chronically ill adolescents have long recognized the challenges related to this patient population: Young adults may be grown in body, but they aren’t always ready psychologically or socially to take full responsibility for consistently following complicated medical routines and practicing lifestyle restrictions. Nor are most adult care doctors trained in the after-effects of childhood cancer, for instance, or the lifelong need to monitor adults with childhood heart repairs.
61-year-old grandfather gets new heart valve at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
One little-known fact about children’s hospitals: A number of their patients are not children. Local grandfather Sang Hee Yoon became one of these patients when he had a malfunctioning heart valve replaced in May, thanks to the expertise of our Adult Congenital Heart Program.
How will we meet the demand for pediatric specialty care?
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health continues to provide expanded access to much in-demand pediatric specialists and subspecialists.
Girls’ Day Out event helps unite—and nurture—teens battling cancer
There are many treatments, therapies and drugs for cancer, but sometimes a day of pampering with friends is just what the doctor ordered.
Cystic fibrosis is deadlier for Hispanic patients, Stanford study finds
A new Stanford study of all kids in California diagnosed with cystic fibrosis between 1991 and 2010 shows that Hispanic patients were three times as likely to die from the disease as their non-Hispanic counterparts, despite similar access to specialty care.
Caring for Kids in the Juvenile Justice System
There’s no question that, for teenagers who end up on the wrong side of the… Read more »
Study of outcomes for early preemies highlights complex choices for families and doctors
A tiny fraction of babies born at 22 weeks of gestation survive to childhood without major impairments or disabilities, according to a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. But, although some of these babies can do well, there is variation between hospitals in the rate at which they are resuscitated after birth.
National Volunteer Week
It’s National Volunteer Week! This week we celebrate our very special volunteers, like reading buddy Lisa Cole, who dedicate their valuable time, effort and talent to help fulfill our hospital’s mission to provide the best nurturing care for our patients. Thank you to our hundreds of volunteers for your extraordinary contributions!
Five questions about the new Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer (AYA) Program with Pam Simon, CPNP
Pam Simon, certified pediatric nurse practitioner and director of the program, explains how this unique program is going to make a big difference for patients.
Santa Clara woman with cystic fibrosis thanks CF Center at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health for successful journey to adult care
Lauren Catron, 26, credits the specialists at the Pulmonary and Cystic Fibrosis Center at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford for keeping her alive.
A serendipitous save that changed treatment of the most common tumor of infancy
Serendipity played a key role in the success of Isabella Manley’s treatment for a life-threatening tumor that made it difficult for her to breathe.
Cochlear implants give young boy with Down syndrome a new lease on life at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
Doctors at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health have proven that cochlear implants in deaf children with developmental delay can help them from falling further behind their peers.
What does a cardiac electrophysiologist do? Anne Dubin explains her profession.
Other cardiologists are plumbers; I’m an electrician,” says Dubin. “Most cardiologists deal with structural heart disease: how the plumbing works and how the heart pumps. I focus on the electrical system that drives the pump.
Stanford Medicine Children’s Health develops innovative process for safely transporting patients during an emergency or crisis event
In case of an emergency or crisis, we’ve developed an innovative electronic medical records tool to make patient transfers as safe as possible.
Memories of “Lu”: Celebrating the founder and visionary of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford
This week, we are celebrating Lucile Salter Packard, our hospital’s founder and visionary, in honor of what would have been her 100th birthday. Her dream was simple: to nurture both the body and soul of every child.
Nurse Linda Ritter Receives Prestigious Award for Excellence
Recently, nurse.com honored Linda Ritter, RN, as winner of the 2014 California’s Giving Excellence Meaning (GEM) Award in the category of Clinical Nursing, Inpatient. Ritter, a longtime nurse in the Bass Childhood Cancer Center at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, was noted by the organization for her leadership in improving palliative care education for the entire unit.
New study shows standardization makes hospital hand-offs safer
A study published online this week in Pediatrics offers encouraging results from a large-scale effort to tackle a persistent safety problem in hospitals. The study is the first scientific investigation of a multi-hospital project to improve patient hand-offs, the times when a patient’s care is being transferred from one person to another.
