Children’s Hospital & Medical Center
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Contents 4
Healing the Invisible Wounds
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Part of the Team
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Weighing In on an Epidemic
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The More You Know
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What We Give
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Our Pursuit of Excellence
Spira Spira is the biannual magazine of Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, 8200 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68114. Spira@ChildrensOmaha.org SpiraMagazine.org
New Rankings Bring National Recognition Children’s Hospital & Medical Center has been ranked in two specialties in U.S. News & World Report’s 2012-13 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Children’s ranked #44 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery and #47 in Cancer. This is the first ranking for the hospital’s cancer program and its second consecutive ranking for cardiology and heart surgery. “Children’s Hospital & Medical Center deserves high praise for its accomplishments,” said Health Rankings Editor Avery Comarow. “It has a reservoir of dedication and expertise that helps the sickest kids. Our goal at U.S. News is to identify and call attention to pediatric centers like this one.” For families of sick children, Best Children’s Hospitals provides unparalleled quality-related information in
addition to rankings, including survival rates, adequacy of nurse staffing, procedure volume, and much more. Since their 2007 debut, the rankings have put an increasing emphasis on data that directly reflect hospitals’ performance over the opinions of physicians. “We’re honored to be ranked among the best children’s hospitals in the country. The patients and families we serve provide a constant stream of inspiration as we challenge ourselves and our organization to always provide the highest level of care,” said Gary A. Perkins, FACHE, president and CEO of Children’s. This year, U.S. News surveyed 178 pediatric centers. Eighty hospitals across the country ranked in one or more specialties.
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HEALING THE INVISIBLE WOUNDS Jeanette Brunkhorst knew her husband was dying. She had taken on the role of caregiver for her husband, Jon Brunkhorst, M.D., a physician and anesthesiologist whose battle against the debilitating effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — commonly called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease — could not be won.
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et no matter how hard she tried to prepare herself and her sons, 4-year-old Joey and 7-year-old John, they could not anticipate the overwhelming waves of grief and emptiness that would wash over them in the days, weeks and months after his death. “They were both so young to have to experience the loss of their dad,” Jeanette says. “They watched and they hoped and prayed that he would get better, but there was no miracle; no happy ending. It changed how they saw the world.” After Jeanette and her sons moved from Iowa City, Iowa, to Omaha, a counselor at one of the boy’s new schools suggested the family might find comfort at a very real place with a make-believe name: Ted E. Bear Hollow. “The school gave us a really nice packet of information,” she recalls. “We thought we’d give it a try.”
An independent grief support program for families, young children, adolescents and young adults, situated at 7811 Farnam Drive in Omaha, the staff and facilitators at Ted E. Bear Hollow welcomed the family with open arms — and two teddy bears. Jeanette and the boys started attending group sessions. They found compassion in the volunteers and other families there to share their own stories of grief. The boys participated in activities that taught them how to express their feelings. Six years after Jon’s death, Jeanette, Joey, now 11, and John, 14, still participate in the support groups. All three also volunteer. They want to give back, Jeanette says, because they have received so much. “Being here has helped us all,” she says. “We like to tell people about Jon; about the person we lost. We tell funny stories, and we talk about the chaos, all the milestones that Jon is missing; all the events and birthdays and holidays that I’ll be standing there alone. We miss him,
“IT’S A SAFE PLACE FOR US. WE CAN SAY ANYTHING AND COME AWAY WITH A FEELING THAT WE’RE BEING HEARD. THERE’S A LOT OF HEALING IN THAT.” JEANETTE BRUNKHORST
Artwork created by teenagers at Ted E. Bear Hollow’s Camp Hope retreat.
Nancy Hemesath, executive director Ted E. Bear Hollow
and Ted E. Bear Hollow is a place we can talk about all that. “It’s a safe place for us. We can say anything and come away with a feeling that we’re being heard. There’s a lot of healing in that.”
Healing. Hope. Love. Three words Executive Director Nancy Hemesath says are typical of what grieving children and families find at Ted E. Bear Hollow.
“They come here and discover they’re not the only ones feeling this way,” she says. “One of the keys to healing after a grief event is a supportive community. That’s what we offer here.”
Area Hospice Network had collaborated on day camps, but families were asking for more. Ted E. Bear Hollow, incorporated in 2001 by Centering Corporation founders Marv and Joy Johnson, was the answer.
The question of how children were counseled when a loved one dies became increasingly more significant in the wake of national tragedies such as the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Columbine School shooting in Colorado. The Centering Corporation in Omaha, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education and resources for the bereaved, and the Metro
“It opened in a little storefront off Saddle Creek Road,” says Hemesath. “Seven or eight families came the first night.” As the number of children and families coming to Ted E. Bear Hollow increased, so did its roster of supporters, including Mary Vondra, who at the time served in the education department at Children’s. “One of the first donations we received
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“WE BELIEVE EVERY CHILD AND FAMILY SHOULD HAVE THIS KIND OF GRIEF SUPPORT WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT PAYING FOR IT. THIS BUILDING MEANS WE CAN SAY ‘YES’ TO MORE FAMILIES.” NANCY HEMESATH
thanks to Mary was some drapes that Children’s was replacing,” Hemesath says. Children’s had a history of referring families to Ted E. Bear Hollow when Hemesath joined the staff in 2005. That relationship took a major step forward three years ago when Children’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kathy English was invited to join the Ted E. Bear Hollow board of directors.
Ted E. Bear Hollow
English was impressed by how the staff and volunteers at Ted E. Bear Hollow teach children and adolescents to handle and express grief in positive ways, from support groups and therapeutic play to a wide array of day camps and weekend retreats, such as Camp Hope for teens.
can communicate their feelings of loss — resonated with her personally. “My sister and her husband passed away at an early age,” she says. “I became the caregiver for my niece and nephew, who were 15 and 18 at the time. I watched them struggle, often in unhealthy ways, with their grief.”
and Cass,” Hemesath recalls. “The next meeting, she came back and said she might have an answer.”
She accepted the invitation because Ted E. Bear Hollow’s purpose — to provide an environment of support and education where grieving children and families
English joined the board and immediately made a difference. “At her first meeting, we were discussing how we were running out of space where we were at 76th
had outgrown its space, English says, “and the board was grappling with whether they should buy a new building, rent or build. I knew Children’s had nice space
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Ted E. Bear Hollow
available next door to our Children’s Home Healthcare’s World (a 24/7 day care facility for medically fragile children) that was just being used for storage.” English secured an offer for Ted E. Bear Hollow to rent the building for seven years at $1 a year. Children’s also cares for the exterior and landscaping. “The location is perfect,” Hemesath says. “It’s nearly 50 percent bigger than our previous space. This is just as good as it gets for us at this point in time.” The extra space enables Ted E. Bear Hollow to expand its programs, which have been growing at nearly 20 percent each year. In 2011, more than 650 family members, 400 children and 250 caregiver adults took advantage of Teddy Bear Hollow, all at no cost to them. “Being free is essential,” Hemesath says. “Sixty percent of our families are below median income. We believe every child and family should have this kind of grief support without worrying about paying for it. This building means we can say ‘yes’ to more families.” Some day, Ted E. Bear Hollow will outgrow its current location, English says. “But in the meantime, it’s a great chance to build a nest egg with what would have been spent on rent.”
Children’s assists Ted E. Bear Hollow in other ways, such as its donation of several massive but outdated medical file cabinets that the facility has utilized to organize and manage its storage area — and the hundreds of teddy bears donated to it each year. English says Children’s support for Ted E. Bear Hollow is a natural extension of its own mission, “So that all children may have a better chance to live.” Ted E. Bear Hollow’s training opportunities for professionals benefit rural Nebraska and the region, English says. “In order for us to better serve as a resource for children and their needs, we have to look beyond the boundaries of the physical hospital itself,” she says. “We can do that by teaching others.” Health care reform is challenging hospitals to think not only about curing illness, English says, but also how to promote wellness. “Surely, one way to promote wellness is through programs like Ted E. Bear Hollow,” she says. “It makes sense for Children’s to take an active role supporting it.”
Artwork created by teenagers at Ted E. Bear Hollow’s Camp Hope retreat.
PA R T O F T H E T E A M
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When a child undergoing treatment at the Hematology/Oncology Clinic at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center developed a serious dental infection, help was just a few minutes away.
“A dental infection in a child whose immune system is already compromised can become a life-threatening issue very quickly,” says Jillian Wallen, B.D.S., post graduate program director and assistant professor, Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), and director of the Dental Clinic at Children’s. “This child had multiple infected teeth and had never seen a dentist,” she says. “We had to request he be given a course of IV antibiotics by the team of physicians caring for him before we could begin to address his other issues. He was very ill, but because we were here at Children’s, we were able to work with the hematology/oncology specialists and treat the infection immediately.”
The incident is just one example of the Dental Clinic’s valuable place in the multidisciplinary team approach to care at Children’s Specialty Pediatric Center. The University of Nebraska’s College of Dentistry opened its new pediatric clinic at Children’s in 2010. At the time, pediatric dental faculty and dental school residents were seeing patients two days a week at Children’s and three days a week at the Munroe-Meyer Institute at UNMC. Pediatric dentistry specialization at the college is a two-year program with a total of eight residents per year. Beginning last fall, the Dental Clinic moved out of the Munroe-Meyer Institute and is open five days a week at Children’s, where additional space has allowed the
program to expand and accommodate more than 50 patients a day, Dr. Wallen says. The change has also enabled the dentists and residents to learn from and collaborate closely with the specialists and subspecialists at Children’s more than 30 outpatient specialty clinics. “Being here at Children’s is invaluable,” Dr. Wallen says. “We are already part of several clinic teams and will start working with the craniofacial team in the near future. “The exposure for our residents is truly unique. It enables them to see such a wide array of children and come to understand how their medical condition affects not just their teeth but their whole body system. It’s a tremendous opportunity to learn and conduct research.”
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The bright colors of the Children’s Specialty Pediatric Center welcome patients to the UNMC College of Dentistry’s pediatric dental clinic. The clinic has treated more than 12,000 patients since opening in 2010.
Dental resident Gary Lehn, D.D.S., for example, is investigating new behavioral management techniques such as giving a number of noncontingent breaks to children during their dental appointment to better control their actions. “I wear a timer on my belt and at different intervals, I give the patient a break,” Dr. Lehn says. “It’s a very noninvasive, acceptable way to encourage children to behave.”
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The clinic at Children’s gives him the chance to practice cooperation-based patient management techniques on children with special needs or extreme medical conditions that affect their behavior. “It’s a challenge to get them to sit still, and we’re often dealing with the parents being there, as well,” Dr. Lehn says. “It is good to have techniques that are easy to understand and not dependent on overcoming language barriers or physical limitations.”
Dental residents are also involved in research with orthopaedic specialists at Children’s to assess and help improve the quality of life for children who suffer from osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) and other bone diseases. Also known as “brittle bone syndrome,” OI is a genetic disorder characterized by bones, including teeth, that easily break. “We have several residents who are specifically interested in children with OI
“Working with these children, and so many others with complex medical and dental issues, is an educational experience our residents might not receive anywhere else.” Jillian Wallen, B.D.S., M.S.
and the particular changes to their dental health,” says Medical Genetics Fellow Eric Rush, M.D., a specialist at the Bone Disease Clinic at Children’s. “We are examining issues such as tooth breakage and how children with OI get cavities,” Dr. Rush says. “Do they get them at an increased rate? When do they get their teeth? There is a tendency with OI to have teeth come in later. If so, how does that affect nutrition and speech?” More than 50 percent of children with OI have problems with their teeth, a condition called dentinogenesis imperfecta, Dr. Rush says. Dentinogenesis imperfecta is characterized by abnormal dentin, the substance beneath the enamel surrounding the pulp chamber and root canals. This condition causes teeth to be discolored and translucent, as well as prone to wear, breakage and loss. “Research into OI itself is a pretty small field,” says Dr. Rush, “And dental research into OI is an even smaller aspect. We are unique here at Children’s in our approach to caring for the whole patient. Certainly, no one else in the region is doing what we’re doing.”
Having the Dental Clinic at Children’s provides OI patients and their families a convenient continuum of care. “Our patients suffer multiple fractures a year,” Dr. Rush says. “Sometimes normal kid things get pushed to the side. But they still need eye exams and dental exams. Before the clinic was here, families would ask me questions about teeth that I can’t answer. It’s a great service to have the dentists here for them.” Dr. Wallen says the dental residents — and ultimately the children they care for — will benefit greatly from the multidisciplinary care and research they participate in at Children’s. “Children with OI, for example, have unique dental issues related to their condition,” she says. “Very few medical centers have as large a pediatric OI clinic as we have at Children’s. Working with these children, and so many others with complex medical and dental issues, is an educational experience our residents might not receive anywhere else.”
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WEIGHING IN ON AN EPIDEMIC Kevin P. Corley, M.D., doesn’t need a crystal ball. As a pediatric endocrinologist and clinical service chief of diabetes and endocrinology at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, he sees the growing number of medically obese children with Type 2 diabetes. He sees the parents and siblings, many of whom are also overweight or obese. He sees them in his waiting room, listening to iPods, and texting on their phones.
He sees the future, and he finds it both frustrating and frightening.
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“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now predict that by 2030, 42 percent of Americans will be obese,” says Dr. Corley, assistant professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine. “By 2050, between 40 percent and 45 percent of this country will be diabetic. You want to find something that will bankrupt the health care system, this will do it.” The human cost is equally staggering. “We will pay for it with our lives,” he says. “The rise in diabetes is every bit as serious as the AIDS epidemic. You don’t see the effects right away, but it’s just as deadly.” Pediatric obesity is the topic of discussion from the morning news through late-night talk shows. The appalling numbers are repeated in graphs and charts. Photos of overweight children eating ice cream are splashed across the television and the Internet with the latest news about the effort to swap one food for another in our schools. We see it, but are we listening? “It isn’t that we aren’t aware of the problem,” Dr. Corley says. “But it’s been around so long, it’s become a part of our culture.” That is why Children’s is going beyond simply stating the problem and is implementing solutions that include intervention, education, lifestyle modification and clinical and behavioral support for children and adolescents who are medically obese.
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Cristina Fernandez, M.D., is a Children’s Physicians pediatrician and also serves as medical director of the Healthy Eating with Resources, Options and Everyday Strategies (HEROES) weight management program at Children’s. The comprehensive, multidisciplinary program treated nearly 300 obese children in 2011. “Today’s obese child is a sad child who needs a lot of support,” she says. “It’s more than a weight problem. We are treating them for adult diseases because of their obesity. They have high cholesterol and hypertension. They have obesity cardiomyopathy and liver disease. They have Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. They suffer from asthma and obstructive sleep apnea. Many of them are bullied. One of our teenage girls told us her classmates were throwing food at her like they were feeding an elephant. They come here and we find so many issues related to their obesity. “These children need to know they can change, they can do better and they can do it every day. We teach them how.” To define whether a child is overweight or obese, physicians use the Body Mass Index (BMI) measurement, or the measure of weight adjusted for height using age and gender specific growth charts. For children, there are percentiles specific for age and gender to medically define underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obese. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, obesity risk is also determined by screening family history, conducting a physical examination, and assessing
physical activity and nutrition behaviors, such as through the Youth Physical Activity & Nutrition assessment form used in Nebraska. These factors when taken together determine the need for intervention. While some children are overweight due to a genetic medical issue, Dr. Fernandez says the majority of obese children she sees are the products of an unhealthy lifestyle. When an intervention is required for those children, she says, “we don’t target a specific weight for them to achieve, we show them how to change their daily life for the better.” Children accepted into the year-long, family-centered weight management program are encouraged to improve their behaviors gradually by being given realistic, measurable goals. “Every time they come in, we want them to be able to show improvement on one or two of the co-morbidities that accompany their obesity,” Dr. Fernandez says. “Maybe they are sleeping better, or their cholesterol is lower, or their back pain has diminished or they are no longer constipated. Maybe they don’t lose weight, but they are better at those things and their self-image is improving because of it.” Dr. Corley says educating the child to pursue better eating and exercise habits is vital to reducing the incidence of pediatric Type 2 diabetes. “Treating these children is much more of a challenge because you can’t give them 10 days of an antibiotic and they’ll be well,” he says. “They require a complete lifestyle
“IT ISN’T THAT WE AREN’T AWARE OF THE PROBLEM. BUT IT’S BEEN AROUND SO LONG, IT’S BECOME A PART OF OUR CULTURE.” KEVIN CORLEY, M.D.
modification. The HEROES program is a very important first step.” With Type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system attacks the pancreas and prevents it from producing insulin. In Type 2 diabetes, an insulin resistance develops resulting in high glucose (a type of sugar) levels and insulin deficiency. “Obese children are still producing insulin but their cells, because of their obesity, become resistant to it,” Dr. Corley says. “It’s a serious condition but is reversible with weight reduction.” There are drugs available to treat Type 2 diabetes in adults, he says, “but they are not FDA-approved for children or adolescents.”
to have him hospitalized. Circumstances had forced him to act like the father for the family, but it was too much for him. He was obese, depressed and very ill.” After initially addressing the boy’s depression, Dr. Fernandez was able to begin to treat his diabetes and other conditions. She focused on his lifestyle and helped him to modify his eating habits and his activity. “Now he is 16 and weighs 190 pounds,” she says. “Though he is still overweight, he is doing better. He was recently hospitalized for pneumonia, and the nurses called me to say they never had a child ask for a better diet. He’s eating healthy because we’ve been teaching him how to do it and why it is so important.”
That is why a comprehensive program such as Children’s that includes experts in nutrition as well as subspecialists is essential to help not only the child but the entire family. “When you’re surrounded by people with the same bad habits, you’re not going to have much incentive to change,” Dr. Corley says. “If there are other immediate family members struggling with weight and activity issues, it’s going to be even harder for the child to succeed.”
Learning those lessons is important, she says, because once children complete the weight management program, they must continue it on their own with support from their family.
With the right combination of clinical and behavioral support, success is possible, Dr. Fernandez says.
“The changes they make have to be for the rest of their lives,” she says, “and we hope that’s a very long, healthy time.”
“I had a 14-year-old boy who weighed 270 pounds,” she recalls. “He complained of a headache, and his blood pressure was 220 over 120. But he refused to be admitted because his mother was reluctant
“We want to be sure that they keep eating healthy and getting more exercise,” she says. “It’s something they have to work on every day. A smoker or an alcoholic can stop using tobacco or alcohol, but we can’t stop eating.
PREVENTION = CURE No matter where they live or how old their children are, metropolitan area parents share the same concern: they say obesity is the top health issue facing families. A new health assessment co-sponsored by Children’s Hospital & Medical Center suggests 30 percent of children, age 5 – 17, in Douglas, Sarpy and Pottawattamie Counties are overweight or obese. Nearly half of the parents surveyed said their children don’t eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. And 20 percent admitted that three or more of their child’s meals in the past week consisted of fast food. These discoveries are the inspiration behind a new, community-based program at Children’s. With a focus on prevention, Healthy Kohl’s Kids will dish up information to fuel smart choices for healthy eating and exercise. Through outreach to schools and involvement in community events, Children’s hopes to shape healthy habits and build healthier families now and into the future. Funding for the program will come in part from Kohl’s Department Stores. Since 2000, Kohl’s has given more than $1.2 million dollars to Children’s Hospital & Medical Center through the Kohl’s Cares cause merchandise program.
The More You Know Children’s Hospital & Medical Center is putting the wise old saying about “an ounce of prevention” into action by sponsoring the HealthTeacher online wellness educational program for every school throughout a nine-county area of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.
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HealthTeacher offers a comprehensive, online library of health education resources.
“HealthTeacher is an easy-to-access and use health education tool that is proving its value nationwide,” says Martin W. Beerman, Vice President of Marketing and Community Relations at Children’s. “We are bringing it to this area for the first time and presenting it to 47 school districts and nearly 160,000 students as a gift to their good health.” HealthTeacher is a series of online health education lesson plans for teachers and resources for parents. It includes a library of more than 300 Kindergarten-through 12th grade sessions organized around 10 health topics defined by National Health Education Standards: nutrition, personal and consumer health, physical activity, anatomy, alcohol and other drugs, tobacco, community and environmental health, family health and sexuality, mental and emotional health, and injury prevention. HealthTeacher addresses the top six health risk behaviors identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Active in nearly three dozen metropolitan markets, HealthTeacher serves more than 10,000 schools and six million students. It is used by nine of the 15 largest school districts in the U.S. Children’s is offering the HealthTeacher program free of charge to the 413 public and private schools in Douglas, Washington, Dodge, Saunders, Sarpy and Cass counties in Nebraska, and Pottawattamie, Harrison and Mills counties in Iowa.
“Good and bad habits form very early in life,” Beerman says. “If we can plant the seed for good health habits at school and carry them over to the home, we hope to teach children how to live a healthier lifestyle through their adolescence and into adulthood.” HealthTeacher was originally developed in 1999 by health educators and health professionals with the goal of providing a comprehensive online resource that would make it easy to teach good health habits to children. Today, HealthTeacher is used in all 50 states and 14 foreign countries, from urban and suburban schools to after-school programs and home schools. The lesson plans can stand alone as a school’s only health curriculum, or be used to support and enhance an existing curriculum. The program seeks to: ❱ Increase the health literacy of all teachers, ❱ Enable teachers to overcome constraints that limit health education in the classroom, ❱ Provide the knowledge, skills and tools that increase the health literacy of all students, ❱ Engage parents and other key community stakeholders to reinforce healthy behaviors among children.
collaborates with its healthcare partners to incorporate feedback and to develop timely, new topics. The program includes lessons that can be taken home and utilized by the entire family to help influence healthier habits. HealthTeacher is committed to education, outreach and the promotion of health literacy. It is the founding partner of the Blue Apple Awards to recognize exceptional school health programs. Children’s is supporting HealthTeacher in part because it advances wellness and prevention initiatives designed to improve health by impacting children at the sources of learning — the classroom and in the home. “School districts are facing many challenges today such as limited health education resources and budget cuts,” Beerman says. “Keeping children healthy keeps them in school. An Alliance for a Healthier Generation survey indicates that nearly 95 percent of responding parents say health education is as important as math, science and English, and we at Children’s agree with them. “Comprehensive health education prepares children for long, healthy lives. That is why Children’s is taking the lead by making HealthTeacher a resource for teachers, parents and children throughout the metropolitan Omaha area.”
In addition to working with many educators directly, HealthTeacher
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Mary Wilson
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We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by
what we give. ~ Winston Churchill ~
A smile and a greeting. A fleeting moment on most days but in this instance, a chance meeting blossomed into inspiration. “The first time I volunteered at the hospital, I met a very sick five-year-old girl who really touched my heart,” Mary Wilson recalls. “I followed her story through the CaringBridge website and mutual friends. She hit close to home since my youngest was the same age at the time. When I heard she had passed away, I couldn’t stop the tears. “I shared with my husband that this brave little girl had lost her battle and he asked, ‘Are you sure you can do this?’ I told him, ‘This is why I have to.’ “God put me in this position for a reason. I’ll do all I can to make a difference.”
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At a time when complex lives are like juggling acts, Wilson has found a way to defy gravity. Past president of the all-volunteer Friends Board of Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, she’s an account executive at WOWT, where she has worked for 23 years. She’s the mother of two boys: Jacob, 12, and Matthew, 9. She’s co-chair of the 2012 Children’s Gala with fellow Friends Board member Kathy Beck, and serves on the board of directors at the Omaha Children’s Museum. Wilson is active at Christ Community Church, where she leads a Bible study group for middle school girls each Wednesday night. And a former Omaha Community Playhouse actress who with her husband co-owned the Dundee Dinner Theater, she’s also channeling her creativity into manuscripts for children’s books.
the University of Nebraska at Omaha, she got involved with the Omaha Community Playhouse, both as a performer and as a public relations intern.
by the American Leprosy Missions,” Mary recalls. “We visited a leprosy hospital in the Philippines in 1998 and met women who had been there since World War II.
That is where she met Jeff Wilson while both had parts in a play titled, “Of Thee I Sing.” Now a Vice President of Client Application Development at First Data, Jeff was in the Air Force when he was transferred to Offutt Air Force Base and began volunteering at the playhouse. The couple’s fondness for the stage was never more apparent than the day after their wedding 22 years ago, when they participated in a rehearsal for “The Christmas Carol” rather than leave on their honeymoon.
“In America, we know that leprosy is curable with medication and we don’t segregate these people. But it isn’t that way in many parts of the world, where communities still shun them and fail to actually treat their disease. It’s amazing, the kind of life they are forced to live.”
Ask how she manages everything and she simply dismisses the question. “We all have the same 24 hours in a day,” she says. “It’s a matter of how you want to spend that time.”
In addition to his acting talents, Jeff is an award-winning singer, having recorded several group and solo CDs as a Christian artist. He and Mary traveled to several foreign countries on tour.
Born in Omaha, Wilson grew up in Elkhorn and graduated from Elkhorn High School. As a communications major at
“I went to Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia with him on a tour sponsored
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After her trip, Wilson says the word “volunteering” took on new meaning. “You start to see the rest of the world in a whole new way,” she says. “An experience like that really energizes your desire to help people. I was born into a family where we had many blessings. Who am I not to give to someone who was not so fortunate?” Energetic and outgoing, Wilson applies that spirit to her volunteerism and to her job at WOWT.
“I’d like to find ways to get our kids, our next generation of adults, to think beyond themselves, see the needs of others and take action to help.” ~ Mary Wilson ~
“I work closely with local and regional clients on their advertising and marketing plans,” she says. “I am passionate about helping them succeed. I show them how to grow their business; how to take them down that road and reach their destination. I love what I do.” She hopes to spark in young people a similar enthusiasm for hard work and volunteering through the lessons contained within her children’s book manuscripts. “As a society I think we tend to be shallow,” she says. “I’d like to find ways to get our kids, our next generation of adults, to think beyond themselves, see the needs of others and take action to help.” One of her manuscripts, titled “The Great Penny Brigade,” is scheduled to be published in early 2013. It tells how even a coin with the least value can be collected in large enough numbers to accomplish great things. “The story is aimed at five- to 12-year-olds,” she says, “but the subject matter is applicable to anyone.”
As members of the Friends Board of Children’s, Wilson and others support the hospital’s mission by providing volunteer services to patients, families and staff; raising funds through volunteer activities; and increasing community and regional awareness of the hospital, its programs and services. She says volunteering has revealed two sides of Children’s. “By serving on the board I’ve seen the inner workings of the hospital, the leadingedge care and the innovative procedures, research and technologies that are taking pediatric health care to the next level,” she says. “I also have personal friends who have been served by Children’s, and I’ve seen how they’ve benefitted from what is truly one of the gems of the community.
to understand that we have Children’s Hospital & Medical Center right here, and it’s the best of the best. The doctors, nurses and other medical professionals at Children’s don’t just treat the illness or the wound; they care for the child and the family. That kind of compassion gives people hope.” No matter how busy she is at work or how many personal activities she has up in the air, Wilson sets aside time to give back to the people and places that are having a positive impact on children’s lives. “I think God blesses us so many ways that we are obligated to use our time, talents and resources to make a difference in the world,” she says. “We can all waste a great deal of time every day. If you can’t find two hours a week to give of yourself and volunteer, then you aren’t looking hard enough.”
“If you have a child diagnosed with a serious illness, it’s a baptism by fire. But after the initial shock, eventually you come
Mary’s upcoming children’s book tells how even a coin of the least value can contribute to great things.
OUR PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. — William A. Ward
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Commentary by Gary A. Perkins, FACHE President and CEO Children’s Hospital & Medical Center
The winds of change are gusting in the health care industry, a swirl of potential government reforms; an economic environment demanding the delivery of stronger value to the community and the patients we serve; and a greater focus on quality, innovation and strong outcomes. We can choose to take a passive role and let all of this happen around us. Or we can be proactive, control our own destiny and ensure that we continue to provide the quality care for children that we’ve been providing in the region for more than 60 years. Two choices — but only one real option. At Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, we are already adjusting the sails, charting a course that will allow us to thrive in this new environment. It is exciting; it is taxing, it is a true “all hands on deck” moment. We are calling this new course The Pursuit of Excellence: One Team. One Purpose. Preparing Children’s for the future means mobilizing the region’s most skilled and dedicated clinicians and staff to meet and overcome today’s challenges as a team. We all have individual contributions to make, but we best achieve our shared goal — overall service excellence — by working together and maintaining a sharp, common focus.
I couldn’t be more optimistic about our ability, as a team, to “adjust the sails” and face these new challenges. We are currently developing growth strategies that nurture a healthy pediatric population and achieve revenue goals. We are aligning our physicians to prepare for the global reimbursements championed by health care. We are incorporating technology to advance our cost and quality initiatives and improve outcomes. In addition, we have devised and are committed to five building blocks for future success, a call to action we’ve labeled “The Five I’s:” innovation, ingenuity, immediacy, initiative and “I-countability.” Rather than accept the status quo, we will continue to lead through new ideas, procedures and technologies (innovation). We will not be complacent about our role, instead working thoughtfully to expand our services and better serve the community (ingenuity). Furthermore, we want to be nimble in the future. Working quickly to provide new avenues of complete care goes hand-in-hand with our ability to think creatively and develop new ideas (Immediacy and Initiative). Perhaps the most significant element of our call to action is I-countability, a concept sparked by Stephen R. Covey in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People.” With I-countability, we are called upon to think differently and be proactive. We must become part of the solution by focusing on what we can change rather than worrying about those issues over which we have no control.
Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. — Pauline Kezer
We have deep roots here at Children’s, roots that come from providing 60 years of quality care for children. There are challenges ahead, but I am supremely confident in our ability to “stretch and grow and reach new heights.” Because Children’s is a powerful team comprised of truly dedicated individuals, we will respond to health care reform, adapt the way we deliver care, embrace I-countability, and continue to improve quality and outcomes. This is not the responsibility of one person; it is the responsibility of every person. One Team. One Purpose. All hands on deck.
Welcome to Children’s Children’s Hospital & Medical Center proudly welcomes two new specialists to its cardiac and cardiothoracic surgery programs. They bring a wealth of expertise and a national perspective from two of the largest pediatric medical centers in the country. Robert Spicer, M.D., is clinical service chief of Cardiology. He also serves as professor, pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Medicine and clinical professor of pediatrics at Creighton University School of Medicine. “I want Omaha and Children’s to be the destination of choice for children with heart problems,” says Dr. Spicer. “No matter the cardiac issue, people across the country will know we have the knowledge and expertise to provide complete care, and that we do it very well.” Board-certified in pediatric cardiology, Dr. Spicer comes to Omaha from Cincinnati, where he was medical director
of cardiac transplantation and director of the cardiology fellowship program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Ibrahim Abdullah, M.D., joins Children’s as a cardiothoracic surgeon and serves as assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery at UNMC College of Medicine. “When I came to visit I was absolutely amazed at what is going on here,” he says. “The concentration of complexity with which the team deals is equivalent to my training in Boston. That really caught my attention.” Dr. Abdullah is a native of New York, N.Y. who received his medical degree at Harvard Medical School. Before joining Children’s, he was chief resident in congenital cardiac surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Ibrahim Abdullah, M.D., and Robert L. Spicer, M.D.
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