THE MAGAZINE OF ARKANSAS CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION • FEBRUARY 2017
Thanks to You,
Blakelee is better today and will be healthier tomorrow
UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU.
Creating a Healthier Tommorrow According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Arkansas ranks 49th in overall child wellness. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranks Arkansas 46th in child health. Simply put, Arkansas is not a very safe or healthy place to be a child. But there’s hope. Together, we can create a healthier tomorrow for children in Arkansas and beyond. We can do this by ensuring children have access to the right care in the right place at the right time. One of the ways Arkansas Children’s is creating a healthier tomorrow is through the Safe Sleep Initiative. The Injury Prevention Center educations families all over the state about the ways to keep infants safe when they sleep. You’ll see more information, and the impact your gifts have on families, on the opposite page. Thanks to donors like you, we’re making progress on the construction of the Southwest Little Rock Community Clinic. The 11,000-square-foot clinic is scheduled to open this spring. It will bring care close to home for the area’s pediatric population, including the growing but underserved Spanish-speaking community. Progress also continues on the construction of Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW) in Springdale. When it opens in January 2018, ACNW will be the first and only healthcare facility in the Northwest Arkansas region dedicated to pediatrics. Construction is on time and within budget. ACNW will open its doors with an unyielding commitment to our core values—safety, teamwork, compassion and excellence. Throughout 2017, you’ll hear more about the ways your support is fundamentally improving the health of children in Arkansas and beyond. Thank you for being our partner. Together, we are championing children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow. Sincerely,
Marcy Doderer, FACHE President and CEO Arkansas Children’s ACHIEVER STAFF: Editor Jennifer Cobb Contributing Writers Ashley Leopoulos, Jennifer Barnett Reed Design C. Waynette Traub Photographer Beth Hall, Daniel Moody
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• ACHIEVER • UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU
Arkansas Children’s Foundation Board of Directors Chair Marcy Doderer, FACHE Vice Chair Charles B. Whiteside III President Fred Scarborough, CFRE Treasurer Jason LaFrance Pat Allen Ritter Arnold Sharon Bale Ginger Blackmon Frances Buchanan Stuart Cobb Steve Davison Kirk Dupps Harry C. Erwin III Kim Fowler Hayden Franks, MD Sharilyn Gasaway Robin George Mike Gibson Sonja Yates Hubbard Jason LaFrance Sharon Lamb Mark Larsen Jim McClelland Barbara Moore Cindy Murphy Jake Nabholz Marshall Ney Terry Quinn Jennifer Schueck Patrick Schueck Belinda Shults Jennifer Smith Claudia Strange Celia Swanson Emeritus Directors Robert G. Cress Don Edmondson Henry Rogers, MD *Current as of January 18, 2016
Lives You’ve Touched Sudden Unexplained Infant Death (SUID) is the leading cause of death in children between 1 and 12 months of age. Approximately 3,700 U.S. babies die each year from SUIDS.
Because of generous donors like you, Arkansas Children’s Injury Prevention Center and Family Resource Center deliver safe sleep education to families across the state every year. Here’s how: 40 safety baby showers educating parents about the importance of keeping their newborn safe.
17 injury prevention educators on staff at Arkansas Children’s
189 hours of safe sleep education delivered every year
750 more families know the ABCs of safe sleep ... thanks to you!
For more information on safe sleep, visit www.ARChildrens.org/AloneBackCrib for tips on how to keep your baby safe. WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • F E B R U A R Y 2017
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Hope for the Future Because of you, Blakelee gets the complex care she needs to thrive
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lakelee Holt of Russellville was a completely healthy kid—until the morning her mother found her disheveled, soaked in urine and barely conscious. Latasha Holt-Bocksnick immediately rushed her 3-year-old to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, an hour-and-a-half drive from their home. There, doctors determined Blakelee had a seizure in the night, brought on by extremely low blood sugar. Blakelee was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. She didn’t wake up for three days. It was a terrifying experience, says Latasha: “I felt so out of control, I was tugging at my hair. I remember that sweet ER doctor saying, ‘You need some family here.’”
YOU CAN HELP Your generous support of Arkansas Children’s puts smiles on the faces of children every day. To make a gift, use the enclosed envelope or go to giving.archildrens.org today!
Latasha was not only grateful for the excellent care Blakelee received, but also for the support the staff provided the rest of the family, too. “The Child Life counselors prepared her sisters to see her in the ICU,” Latasha says. “They said, ‘Don’t be afraid of all the machines and doctors—this is what Blakelee needs to feel better.’” Today, 6-year-old Blakelee is still a frequent patient at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. She takes seizure medication and follows a nutrition plan to keep her blood sugar stable. Even with the regimented treatment, a common illness or infection can send Blakelee to the hospital for a week-long visit. Still, whether the family is visiting for an emergency or a regular appointment with urology, endocrine or neurology, Blakelee “always views the hospital as her very own place,” Latasha says. “She knows that when she sees the sign or Angel One helicopter from the interstate, we are going to a place of love and healing.”
The child-centered care and kid-savvy programs make Blakelee feel right at home, from the late night wagon rides past the butterflies in the South Wing to the therapy dogs to costume parties for Halloween. Latasha says the staff makes Blakelee feel special, too, especially the nurses who always have a toy or surprise when her daughter has had every finger, thumb and toe pricked for blood samples. “We are very blessed in Arkansas to have Arkansas Children’s,” says Latasha. “I want others to look at Blakelee and see that while having a chronic illness as a child is a hardship, Arkansas Children’s is a place she actually looks forward to coming to when she needs it. She feels like it’s her place.”
WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • F E B R U A R Y 2017
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Triple play When Jace Atha’s diagnosis went from one heart defect to three, ACH’s cardiology team rose to the challenge BY JENNIFER BARNETT REED
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he news was scary enough the first time Jonathan and Cristin Atha met with the cardiology team at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Cristin was 20 weeks pregnant, and an ultrasound showed her baby boy had a serious congenital heart defect called tricuspid atresia. The doctors had a plan, though, and their confidence put the Fayetteville couple at ease. Then, right before baby Jace was born, the news got much worse. Jace didn’t just have one major congenital heart defect—he had three. “This was something none of the cardiologists had seen before—all three of these conditions in one child,” Jonathan says. Thanks to you, though, the Athas had a world-class team on their side, and that team got to work. “There were several conferences involving the whole cardiology team to determine how to solve all three of these conditions without doing extra surgeries,” Jonathan says. When Cristin went into labor in August 2011, the ACH cardiology
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team sprang into action. The Angel One ambulance team was waiting at UAMS to stabilize Jace and transport him immediately to ACH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Jonathan followed. “They quickly pulled me into a room and explained what was going to happen in the next 24 hours or so,” he says. “I remember Dr. [Thomas] Best and Dr. [Ronnie] Collins telling me I needed to take as many pictures as my camera could hold.” Over the next nine days, Jace stayed in the NICU and then the cardiac intensive care unit, having tests and procedures done in preparation for the first of three planned surgeries. “Everywhere you walked in Arkansas Children’s you were greeted with a hug,” Cristin says. “They treat the babies like kings or queens, and they treated our family the same way.” During Jace’s first surgery, when he was nine days old, surgeons corrected his two
• ACHIEVER • UNTIL NO CHILD NEEDS US, WE NEED YOU
additional heart defects while they completed the first step in correcting his tricuspid atresia. “The surgeon came in and explained everything,” Cristin says. “He had one of those pens that writes in a lot of colors and he drags down the colors he wants to use to draw the diagram of what he’ll do once he’s in there. It’s scary to hear, but he tells you like it is: ‘Here’s my plan Are there risks? Absolutely. But here’s my plan.’” Because of you, Jace had access to the expert care he needed to survive his unique combination of heart problems. He made it through that first surgery, a second right after Christmas 2011 and his third and final operation in July 2014. He’s now 5 years old, will start
kindergarten next fall, and is doing better than anyone expected. As of last May, he only requires yearly checkups with ACH cardiologists. “He’s great now,” Cristin says. “He’s a vibrant young man and he hasn’t met a stranger.” The Athas say they want to be Ambassadors for Arkansas Children’s because they want to
share the story of the amazing care Jace received, and they want to support other families who are facing their own scary news. “We want to let people know how wonderful Arkansas Children’s is,” Cristin says. “You’re not going to find anybody who cares about your child more than they do.”
CHILDREN LIKE JACE NEED YOUR HELP TO GET BETTER. Please give generously. Use the enclosed envelope or visit giving.archildrens.org.
WWW.GIVING.ARCHILDRENS.ORG • ACHIEVER • F E B R U A R Y 2017
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Championing Children for 50 Years Help celebrate the ACH Auxiliary’s legacy of making children better today and healthier tomorrow TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017 • 11:30 A.M. LUNCHEON MARK SHRIVER, GUEST SPEAKER PRESIDENT, SAVE THE CHILDREN ACTION NETWORK
Save the Children Action Network, a bipartisan organization working to ensure a healthier tomorrow for children in the United States and worldwide.
For ticket information call:
501-364-1440