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A 3D printed heart
A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the old saying goes. But how much is a 3D-printed model of what’s in that picture worth?
For pediatric surgeons who use 3D-printed hearts of the children they operate on, their impact can be huge. And for surgeons-in-training, this technology can allow them to learn new and rare procedures on a realistic-looking organ.
Sarita Wall is the vice chair of the Black and African Heritage Network
Sarita Wall started working at Seattle Children’s in summer 2019, and she knew immediately that she wanted to volunteer at her new organization to get involved with her new work community.
“I wanted to do something meaningful and be around people who share some of the same experiences and who look like me,” said Wall, who is an executive assistant at the Neurosciences Center.
She joined the Black and African Heritage Network and met the leaders of that inclusion network, or employee resource group, including Shakema Magee, the chair of the group. Wall said BAHN was “very involved in the Black community within Seattle Children’s,” which she appreciated.
Wall is now the vice chair of BAHN. Among other activities, BAHN coordinates the Annual Walk Run for Sickle Cell, which raises awareness and educates people about the disease. It also helps create a sense of community around sickle cell. The event was canceled for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The low-cost bCPAP device combines room air with oxygen and delivers it to the baby’s nose. The tubing carrying the oxygen ends submerged in water, which creates the pressures in the system and makes bubbles when the air comes out. The bubbles create a vibration that helps to keep the lungs open and working better. (Photo: PATH)
Each year, hundreds of thousands of babies born prematurely in low- and middle-income countries die because medical facilities there cannot afford the equipment that could help babies survive those crucial first few weeks after birth.
Many of these deaths are caused by respiratory distress syndrome.
In sub-Saharan Africa alone, some 6 million preterm babies are born every year with immature lungs. Their lungs aren’t fully developed, and they have trouble staying inflated, so they collapse. While medical institutions in high-income countries have bubble continuous positive airway pressure machines to help them breathe, those bCPAP units cost thousands of dollars—making them prohibitively expensive for many low-income nations. Of those 6 million babies, 800,000 of them are born at mid-level facilities that require bCPAP devices but likely don’t have them.
The bCPAP devices keep the lungs from deflating and also deliver blended oxygen into them—a critical step because breathing 100% oxygen can cause blindness in premature babies.
Medical providers in some low-resource countries use improvised bCPAP kits assembled from parts they already have in their clinics and use them to help preterm babies survive. However, these kits do not have the ability to provide blended oxygen for babies.
Dr. Shaquita Bell has been caring for families at OBCC for nearly 16 years.
Seattle Children’s has appointed Dr. Shaquita Bell as senior medical director of Odesa Brown Children’s Clinic in south Seattle, where she has served for nearly 16 years. The organization also named Dr. Kenisha Campbell as medical director at the clinic.
Bell will lead OBCC in the Central District and the new clinic at Othello Square, which is slated to open in March. Both doctors will have roles at the two locations.
For the past 15 years, Seattle Children’s Research Division has been at the forefront of breakthrough innovations. From new drugs to treat cystic fibrosis, to first-in-the-nation use of laser ablation for epilepsy and brain tumors to remove unwanted cells, the research division is advancing our mission to provide hope, care and cures to help every child live the healthiest and most fulfilling life possible.
Here, we take a look at some of the achievements of the past decade-and-a-half.
Professor Nimbal explaining bacteria to the two children.
Doctors often deal with medical conditions that might be somewhat embarrassing or just difficult for patients to understand. Inflammatory bowel disease, a serious and debilitating condition that, as the name implies, affects the intestines and everything that comes out of them, is one of those ailments.
Medical providers who treat and investigate IBD have to find ways to explain their patients’ situation during medical appointments that may last less than 30 minutes—all while the patient and their caregivers might be overcome with emotion or concern. Too often what the doctors tell them is lost or only partially retained.
Dr. David Suskind, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Seattle Children’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, realized that the caregivers of the children he treats can read pamphlets or educational books about the disease, but he didn’t have anything specific for the kids that explained their condition.
