THE MAGAZINE OF ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION | MARCH/APRIL 2016
YOU HELPED HEAL
MIIA’S HEART ADVANCES IN TELEMEDICINE
YOUR GIFTS HELP DELIVER CARE CLOSE TO HOME
®
UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU.
Thank You for Championing the Children of Arkansas! With a vision of providing specialized pediatric care close to home for Arkansas kids, Arkansas Children’s Hospital is expanding our services to build a true statewide network of care. And your generous support is helping us every step of the way. Answering the call to serve all the children of Arkansas calls for ingenuity. It requires innovative ideas for reaching as many children as possible as close to home as possible. Because of you, we continue to move forward with plans to build a hospital in Springdale. Because of you, we are expanding clinic operations in Jonesboro. Your gifts are allowing us to invest in telemedicine to support school-based healthcare and to explore options for mobile clinics in rural areas of the state. Why would we do this? Why would we change our healthcare delivery model—one that has served so many kids so well for so long? It’s not because it’s necessarily broken—it’s because it can be better. Travel for medical care puts strain on children, families and employers, ultimately affecting an entire community’s quality of life. When travel and financial barriers are removed, kids are more likely to receive essential followup care. They have more time in the classroom and parents have fewer hours away from work. Ultimately, families save money, time and energy. With your help, we can ensure more children in Arkansas have quick, easy access to excellent pediatric care when and where they need it most. Thank you for all you are doing—and all you will continue to do—to help Arkansas Children’s Hospital make kids better today and healthier tomorrow. You truly are a champion for children. Sincerely,
Marcy Doderer, FACHE President and CEO Arkansas Children’s Hospital
ACHIEVER STAFF: Editor Jennifer Cobb Pyron Contributing Writers Ashley Leopoulos, Becky McCauley Design C. Waynette Traub Photographers Daniel Moody, Karen Segrave 2
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• ACHIEVER • UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation Board of Directors Chair Marcy Doderer, FACHE Vice Chair Charles B. Whiteside III President Fred Scarborough, CFRE Pat Allen Ritter Arnold Sharon Bale Ginger Blackmon Frances Buchanan Steve Davison Harry C. Erwin III Hayden Franks, MD Sharilyn Gasaway Robin George Mike Gibson Trevor Holbert Sonja Yates Hubbard Jason LaFrance Sharon Lamb Mark Larsen Jim McClelland
Barbara Moore Cindy Murphy Jake Nabholz Marshall Ney Mary Spears Polk Robert Porter, MD Terry Quinn Patrick Schueck Belinda Shults Jennifer Smith Claudia Strange Celia Swanson Emeritus Directors Robert G. Cress Don Edmondson Henry Rogers, MD
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Board of Directors* Chair Mark Saviers Vice Chair Ron Clark Secretary Skip Rutherford Treasurer Mark McCaslin Chief of Staff Steve Schexnayder, MD Past Chair Tom Baxter President and CEO Marcy Doderer, FACHE John Bale, Jr. Jeremy Cobb Jayant K. Deshpande, MD Haskell Dickinson Harry C. Erwin III Sharilyn Gasaway Melissa Graham, MD Paul Hart Marion A. Humphrey Dorsey Jackson Richard F. Jacobs, MD J. Phillip Jett Holly Marr
Pat McClelland Barbara Moore Beverly A. Morrow Jeffrey Nolan Daniel Rahn, MD Jennifer Schueck Patrick Schueck Charles B. Whiteside III Emeritus Directors Hillary Clinton Robert G. Cress
*Current as of March 1, 2016
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute Board of Directors Chair Ron Clark Treasurer Ross Whipple President Gregory L. Kearns, PharmD, PhD, FAAP John Ahlen, MD Marcy Doderer, FACHE Dee Ann English Ellen Gray Richard F. Jacobs, MD Mark Millsap Jeffrey Nolan
Kathy Bennett Perkins Robert Porter, MD Daniel Rahn, MD Jose Romero, MD Mark Saviers Kartik Shankar, MD
Lives You Touch
Thanks to you, Arkansas Children’s Hospital is growing its telemedicine capabilities in order to provide care close to home. HERE’S A SNAPSHOT OF HOW YOUR GENEROSITY IMPACTS FAMILIES IN ARKANSAS:
8 clinical services use telemedicine: Audiology/Speech Pathology Burn Cardiology Children at Risk Genetics Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Urology
71
9
23
21
Bentonville
101
62
62 62
Mountain Home
14
Pocahontas
9
12
Siloam Springs
21
Harrison
412
23
Springdale
16
49
Fayetteville
5 27
62
21
Melbourne
Blytheville
67
66
Jonesboro
25 9 5
14
65
55 69
25
7
63 14
Newport
5
64
Heber Springs
Clarksville
40
Ozark
Fort Smith
16
23 22
25
Russellville
22
10
Conway
60
17 1
64
67
64
17
11
Forrest City
38
31
80
Arkansas Children’s Hospital North Little Rock Little Rock Campus
28
165
88
6 audiology per month who receive services via telemedicine
8
1
79
Malvern
7
365
De Witt
270
84
70 4
Pine Bluff
9
165
Arkadelphia
26 27
79
26
30 24
19
Ashdown
Hope
Gurdon 84 miles from ACH
67
19
65 9
8
29
1
8
Monticello
Camden 7
4
79
15
132
Fouke 71 166 miles from ACH
McGehee
165
425
Magnolia Magnolia 82 137 miles from ACH
4
35
15
19
29
11
35
24
4
Texarkana Texarkana 143 miles from ACH
15
167
8
Nashville
27
24
miles saved
West Helena Helena
130
24
1,264
49
Stuttgart
65 35
27
3
70
8
De Queen
41
1
11
Hot Springs
71
patients
40
31
5
27
88
50
79
70
7
27
270
64
West Memphis
49
Beebe Beebe 41 miles from ACH
10
28
77 75
16
9
Marked Tree
14
167
Searcy 61 miles from Searcy ACH
Morrilton
27
10
23
71
Mena
18
Batesville
23
21
96
412
69
16
71
Paragould
115
9
14
16
59
Walnut Ridge
7
16
135
56
5
14
El Dorado
8
Crossett
15 129
8
65
20 hours +36 minutes saved per appointment
WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • M A R C H / A P R I L 2016
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You Helped Heal Miia’s Heart BY BECKY MCCAULEY
T
here are many grateful families at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. And every one of them has their own special story about how your generosity changed their lives. There are children who have been fully restored to health and are living happy, active lives. There are families whose child is doing so much better than anyone ever expected. And there are griefstricken parents whose outcomes were sadly not what they’d hoped for, but who are thankful every day their child received the best possible care at ACH. They all have one thing in common: they are grateful for your support. Little 3-year-old Miia from DeQueen and her parents Jessica and David are just one of these grateful families. Miia was born with several holes in her heart. The doctors told Jessica and David, “it looks like Swiss cheese.” She had her first heart surgery at ACH when she was six months old to apply a band around her pulmonary artery. This band would help protect her lungs as she grew. During the next two years, most of the holes in Miia’s heart repaired themselves. But right after she turned 3, Miia had a second surgery to remove the band and close up the remaining hole. Jessica said, “When something like this happens, you’re desperate to find the best hospital in the country—in the world—for your child. I didn’t know it at the time, but we already were at the best hospital: Arkansas Children’s Hospital.”
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David adds, “Walking through the doors of ACH was hard because we were in a hospital. But it felt so much like home! Everyone had a smile. Everyone tried to help. They literally took us by the hand. “From the people who clean the floors to those who performed Miia’s life-saving surgeries, they’re all part of our family,” he continues. Miia visits the David M. Clark Heart Center at ACH periodically for checkups. ACH physicians will continue to monitor her heart health throughout her life. She also visits the hospital for dental care and other services. Miia’s mom is so thankful for the care her daughter receives at ACH. Jessica says, “If you’ve never had a sick child, you can’t even imagine what it’s like... how much people suffer. When you give to ACH, you can’t begin to understand how much you change lives.” David offers his gratitude, as well. “Thank you for supporting this great place,” he says. “Even $1 makes a difference for children like our daughter. Your donations change lives.”
• ACHIEVER • UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU
Your support of cardiac programs at ACH helps make children better today and healthier tomorrow.
WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • M A R C H / A P R I L 2016
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The Sweet Sound of Speech Thanks to donors like you, Ella receives medical services she needs close to home. BY ASHLEY LEOPOULOS
A
t their home in Texarkana, 3-yearold Ella and her mom Emily play restaurant on a quiet Thursday afternoon. With the touch of a button, play time turns into play therapy, as Krista Scruggs, a speech and language pathologist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, greets them from the other side of an iPad. Thanks to donors like you, ACH is able to provide quality health services to patients no matter where they live. Emily and Ella are one of the first patient families to participate in AR Talks, a pilot telemedicine program designed to help families receive the audiology therapy they need close to home. At 7 months old, Ella was taken to ACH after failing a hearing test during a checkup. Doctors diagnosed her with mild-tomoderate hearing loss. That month, Ella was fitted with hearing aids. “As soon as we got the hearing aids, she began making more sounds and listening more intently,” says Emily. “But while Ella’s hearing and speech were improving, she still had some deficits.” Ella began speech therapy with Krista right before her second birthday. At first, Emily and Ella made the long, four-hour round trip from Texarkana to Little Rock for therapy. Emily would have to miss an entire day of work in order to keep the appointments.
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Now, thanks to modern technology, Emily and Ella don’t have to make the drive to Little Rock. Instead, Krista and Ella work together via telemedicine to achieve the same results. “Krista and Ella have the same stickers and they take turns telling each other which stickers to use.” Ella repeats after Krista, making vowel sounds. Then together they play with her toys and talk about them. A stethoscope–style device called a “listeningscope” allows Emily to hear exactly what her daughter Ella is hearing during the therapy sessions. Shawn Harwell, administrative director of the hospital’s telemedicine department, says that ACH’s work in this area gives even the youngest Arkansans more opportunities to become better today and healthier tomorrow. “Telemedicine is used all over the world to deliver healthcare,” Harwell says. “It is time for ACH to grow its network and move Arkansas forward so children in all four corners of our state receive the very best care.” “If we didn’t have the telemedicine technology, I don’t know what we would do for speech,” says Emily. “I love the AR Talks program and the fact that Ella can receive the specialized care she needs. I don’t think I could ever say how wonderful our audiologist and speech pathologists have been for us.”
• ACHIEVER • UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU
You Can Help Deliver Care Close to Home Your gifts to Arkansas Children’s Hospital make a big difference in the lives of children. With your help, ACH can continue to expand the telemedicine network so more kids in Arkansas receive care close to home. Why is care close to home important? It’s simple: when families don’t have to travel to receive medical care, parents miss less work and kids miss less school.
Help kids like Ella today with a gift to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Simply use the enclosed envelope or go online to Giving. ARChildrens.Org.
WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • M A R C H / A P R I L 2016
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WHY WE
GIVE
The Taylor family from Sheridan is passionate about helping ACH —and it all started with one load of logs. BY ASHLEY LEOPOULOS
F
rom the first moment Bobby Taylor toured Arkansas Children’s Hospital and saw the stoic faces of the patients and their families, he vowed to give back in a big way. Bobby and his wife Deana turned that vow into action by volunteering for the annual Log A Load for Kids fundraising event. The Taylor family now hosts the Central Arkansas chapter fundraiser and has been doing so for the last 20 years. During that first year, the event raised approximately $5,000 by auctioning off a truckload of logs. Today, the Central Arkansas Log A Load for Kids chapter raises more than $150,000 annually for ACH. “Our Log A Load group is a tight-knit community,” says Bobby. “I tell people all the time, ‘you may think you have problems, but you need to go up and visit the kids at ACH.’ The patients have smiles on their faces, but you know they are working hard to get better.” With six Log A Load chapters across the state, Arkansas’ Log A Load ranks number one nationally for fundraising and is second only to Walmart for Children’s Miracle Network fundraising support
of ACH. Sponsored by the Arkansas Forestry Association in cooperation with the Arkansas Timber Producers Association, Log A Load is dedicated to the long-term growth of ACH. Over the years, funds raised by Log A Load have established an Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery, supported the Angel One program; and helped fund a new trauma unit with the latest in cutting-edge technology for ACH’s Emergency Department. The Taylors have needed ACH twice during their son Grant’s life and are thankful ACH was there for their family when they needed care the most. “Everyone was so kind,” says Deana. “The nurses treated us so well, and they always had great attitudes.” When Grant turned 18 years old, the Taylors decided to take a generous step in their support of ACH by leaving a gift in their estate plans. “We want to ensure the hospital will always be here, so the decision to give an estate gift was a no-brainer. It is an easy way to give back,” says Bobby.
You, too, can plan a meaningful gift that will leave a lasting impact on the patients at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. To learn more about planned giving or leaving a gift to ACH in your will, contact Katherine L. Friend at 800-880-7491.