We're all about children!
 April 2006
This edition:
Letter From Our Chair
Spring is here, and the sights and sounds of renewal are all around us. It's important that we look at the accomplishments of the past year and the challenges of the coming academic year. The Children's Hospital is not just a building. It's an enterprise that serves the community's children and provides them a chance to grow into healthy adults. [read more] Feature Story Children's Hospital and Charles P. Darby Children's Research Institute Transform Hope into Reality A Parent's Perspective When Dave Kreber considers how attainable his hope is for his three children, he likes to make it real by putting it within the scope of his own lifetime. "My daughter Monica is a cancer survivor who is now 16 but was diagnosed with leukemia at age 7," he explains. "If that had been me as a child -if this had been 40 years ago - the doctors would've had to tell my parents that I had six weeks to live. It's thrilling for me to know that, because of all the research during those years, now 60 to 70 percent of juvenile leukemia cases are treatable, and that's exciting. [read more] Message From Our Medical Director
To that end, I am proud that the 100 or so full time pediatric faculty and many hundreds of staff here at MUSC Children's Hospital are involved in a wide variety of community activities, from coaching and medical directing athletic activities to educational activities and charity work. The unifying theme is promotion of a healthy community through healthy children. I consider our medical staff to be a unique resource both in and outside of the hospital, and encourage them to participate whenever possible. As a member of the community and the medical director, I offer our sincere appreciation to those who do extend their reach into our community. Update From Our Administrator
During my years of working in children's hospitals, I have found that people occasionally pose the question of why we need hospitals just for kids. There are several answers to this question. While many multi-specialty adult hospitals provide adequate care for children, the fact is that children's hospitals have better outcomes and provide better service for kids. Children's hospitals are able to focus their entire efforts on the problems that children encounter. The needs of children in healthcare can be much different than those of an adult from a physiological, social and psychological perspective. Children's hospitals are able to bring individuals who specialize in children's needs together to address all of those issues. Children's hospitals provide important clinical care for children, but they also need to be able to provide support and care for the family. It's a very difficult experience for parents to have a child in the hospital; they need to be cared for, too. Children's hospitals also advocate for protection and services for children. That would not necessarily be the focus of an adult hospital. Children's hospitals make sure that children are protected and given the proper care and coverage by the state and various areas of the government. This helps to ensure that all children receive the care and guidance that they deserve. Children's hospitals are a very important component of a community. Through our kids, they help to preserve our future. The MUSC Children's Hospital is proud to be able to serve the children and preserve the future of the Low Country. Children are different - and so are we. Darby Children's Research Institute News
The network is a group of seven private pediatric practices that have come together to research innovative approaches to providing better care for kids. "The purpose of the network is to take these innovations from the medical center out into the community," says Paul Darden, MD, a professor in the pediatric department and one of the founders of the SCPPRN. "Our hope is to coordinate research with bench top people at the DCRI to do translational research," he explains. [read more] Mental Health and Developmental Health Tips April is Child Abuse Awareness month (wear your blue ribbon!). Child abuse and neglect are major public health problems in the United States and can lead to significant psychiatric and medical harm and even death. Maltreated children frequently come to the attention of medical professionals, and it is essential that professionals have skills to recognize suspicious patterns of injuries. In the United States, 50,000 incidents of child maltreatment are reported to authorities each week. These 2.6 million reports made each year involve 4.5 million children. Of these reports, 896,000 are investigated and "founded," which leads to foster care placement or monitoring by child protective services (CPS). [read more] A special thanks to the following individuals for their efforts in putting together Kids Connection each month. Managing Editor: Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA Publisher: Jennifer Cherock (Trio Solutions Inc.) and Jessica Munday (Trio Solutions Inc.) Web design: Brian Dadin (Trio Solutions Inc.) Feature Writer: Mary Sue Lawrence, Trio Solutions Inc Contributing Writers: Lyndon Key, Michelle Macias, Bernard Maria, John Sanders, Philip Saul, Inderjit Singh, Eve Spratt |
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