Donate Now
Kendra L. Read, PhD, Attending Psychologist, Seattle Children’s
The pandemic has been difficult for many of us, especially for children and teens. Not only are children grappling with the challenges that naturally occur during formative years, but the weight of recent events has exacerbated mental health issues. At alarming rates, youth are reporting feelings of depression and anxiety. Read full post »
Seth Wayne is a Seattle Children’s athletic trainer at Evergreen High School.
Did you know March is National Athletic Training Month? In recognition of Seattle Children’s incredible athletic trainers, we’re highlighting the tremendous role they play in helping athletes thrive on and off the field.
Across the greater Puget Sound region, nearly 50 athletic trainers from Seattle Children’s are embedded in 42 schools from Tacoma to Woodinville. They are with athletes at least five days a week – on the sidelines at games when most injuries occur, as well as in the gym or training facilities during practice. They provide sport-specific training and conditioning programs, as well as injury care for high school athletes. Athletic trainers help care for athletes from a wide array of sports, including football, soccer, lacrosse, gymnastics, wrestling, basketball, baseball, softball, track and field, tennis, golf, swimming, volleyball, cross country and roller derby. From helping tape ankles to suggesting specific exercises to decrease the risk of injury to communicating with orthopedic providers when catastrophic injuries occur, athletic trainers help support young athletes.
“We are the eyes, hands and ears of the care team and a liaison between the providers and patient,” said Seth Wayne, a Seattle Children’s athletic trainer at Evergreen High School.
Dr. Todd Blumberg is the program director of Seattle Children’s Child and Young Adult Hip Preservation Program.
Dr. Todd Blumberg, program director of Seattle Children’s Child and Young Adult Hip Preservation Program, has helped build a new program that is truly one-of-a-kind in the Pacific Northwest. The program offers comprehensive and complete care for children, teens and young adults with a wide range of hip conditions.
Blumberg was born and raised in Texas. He graduated from medical school at Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his orthopedic surgery training at the University of Washington and then went on to complete pediatric orthopedic fellowship training at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with additional fellowship training in hip preservation surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital.
We sat down with Blumberg to learn more about the program and his vision for helping children with hip issues live their most fulfilling life possible.
Dr. Kevin Koo is an interventional radiologist at Seattle Children’s.
When a child is diagnosed with kidney failure, it can feel daunting and surreal. Often, patients feel like their life is put on hold. A child whose kidneys do not work normally may need dialysis to filter waste and extra fluids from the blood and, for those who suffer from kidney failure, dialysis is required. Dialysis is a lifesaving treatment, but it is also life-altering. Patients who need dialysis are on hemodialysis three to five times a week, a total of up to 12 to 20 hours per week.
Dialysis is a lifeline and bridge for many waiting for a kidney transplant, but it can take months or even years before an organ is available.
Sirish, pictured in the top row on the left with his family, unexpectedly began developing seizures at age 11. Learn how teams at Seattle Children’s helped to protect his brain.
Sirish was a healthy, happy boy with no underlying medical conditions aside from food allergies and eczema, both of which were easily managed at home.
Then one day, he spiked a fever.
Initially, his mother, Jyothi, a physician who previously practiced in India, wasn’t concerned. The fever broke, and Sirish seemed to improve.
About a week later, though, he spiked another fever. This time, medication didn’t help. Then, the unimaginable happened: he had a seizure.
Rebecca and Samuele Ciccu were diagnosed with CAH shortly after birth.
Arianna Ciccu and her husband, Marco, knew if they had children, they might be born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). It’s a genetic condition Marco was born with and has navigated his whole life.
CAH is a group of conditions that affects a person’s adrenal glands. Congenital means the condition is present at birth, and hyperplasia means the glands are overgrown. The adrenal glands make and release the hormone cortisol, which plays a key role in how the body uses sugar for energy and how it deals with stress. A person with CAH can’t make enough cortisol because they are missing an enzyme. There are two different types of CAH, classical and nonclassical. Classical CAH is more severe and can be life-threatening.
When Arianna and her husband welcomed their first child, Rebecca, the first thing they asked the doctor was if Rebecca had CAH. Today, all babies are screened for CAH at birth using a simple blood test. Without treatment, newborns with CAH can develop serious symptoms, including weight loss, vomiting, dehydration, diarrhea, shock, heart rhythm problems and death.
The test was positive.
Dr. Hannibal Person is the newest addition to Seattle Children’s Gastroenterology and Hepatology team.
Seattle Children’s is excited to welcome Dr. Hannibal Person to the Gastroenterology and Hepatology team. Dr. Person brings a unique triad of general psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and pediatric gastroenterology expertise to Seattle Children’s. He is looking forward to building an interdisciplinary program to help children who suffer from chronic gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and pain. His goal is to create a supportive program focused on the brain-gut connection — a true one-of-a-kind program in the U.S.
We sat down with Dr. Person to learn more about his background and his vision for the future.
Dr. Klane White is an international leader and advocate for children like Emma with rare skeletal health conditions. As the parent of a child who had a complex medical condition, he knows what it feels like to be on the receiving side of a difficult medical diagnosis and care –– and it’s helped shape him into the incredible provider, researcher and surgeon he is today.
Dr. Klane White leads the Skeletal Health and Dysplasia Program at Seattle Children’s. He is an international expert in the care of children with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) and skeletal dysplasia, lecturing around the globe on the orthopedic management of these conditions. In addition to being the only pediatric orthopedic surgeon in the world to serve as principal investigator on phase 3 clinical trials for rare skeletal conditions, he serves on the medical advisory board of Little People of America, the scientific advisory board of the National MPS Society and is an executive founding member of the Skeletal Dysplasia Management Consortium. This story is one example of the compassionate care he and other members of Seattle Children’s Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Program provide to children every day.
Amanda and her daughter, Amelia, have both been treated at Seattle Children’s for Alagille syndrome.
When Amanda Thorlacius found out she was pregnant with a little girl, she was overjoyed. But she wondered if her daughter would inherit the same genetic condition that robbed her of a normal childhood.
“Give me all the diseases in the world, but don’t give Alagille syndrome to my children,” Amanda said.
Alagille syndrome (ALGS) is a rare, inherited condition in which children may have too few bile ducts in the liver. This causes problems with the way bile moves and makes it hard for the body to remove toxins.
Dr. Maneesh Batra’s experience with babies in low-resource countries fed his passion to focus on neonatal care and public health.
Dr. Maneesh Batra, the new interim chief of neonatology at Seattle Children’s, first became interested in neonatology when he was working as a resident in Ugandan hospitals in 2002. He witnessed the incredible sorrow on the faces of mothers whose babies were failing to thrive.
“It was striking to me how much the providers and the families wanted to give those babies hope,” Batra said. “The moms were bringing their babies there to give them a chance at survival, and most of them were dying. It felt really wrong and unfair.”
When Batra returned to the U.S., he found it hard to shake those images from his mind. It ultimately led him to converge two of his interests — neonatal care and global health — with the mission of helping improve access to care for all babies everywhere.
Seattle Children's complies with applicable federal and other civil rights laws and does not discriminate, exclude people or treat them differently based on race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin (ancestry), age, disability, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law. Financial assistance for medically necessary services is based on family income and hospital resources and is provided to children under age 21 whose primary residence is in Washington, Alaska, Montana or Idaho.
© 1995—2022 Seattle Children's Hospital
