Authors: Taylor Richards and Madison Joseph
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith visits with a pediatric patient at Seattle Children’s Hospital
Seattle Children’s patients and families were surprised this holiday season when some exciting visitors stopped by – Geno Smith, Seattle Seahawks quarterback, Michael Dickson, punter, Joey Hunt, center, and Jalen McKenzie, tackle.
The players delivered teddy bears, signed autographs, played video games, and shared special moments with our patients and their families.
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Authors: Ashley Speller
Harper and mom Meagan celebrate Christmas at Seattle Children’s
As many families prepare for their annual holiday celebrations and family gatherings, this year’s plans look very different than last year for 3-year-old Harper and her parents, Meagan and Josh.
In 2019 just a few months before Christmas, Harper was transported to Seattle Children’s on an emergency flight from Yakima, Wash. after blood tests in a local emergency room revealed she had leukemia, a cancer of the blood.
At a mere five months old, the diagnosis that their child had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was both shocking and devastating to Harper’s parents, but they took comfort in knowing that she was in the best hands possible with a team of experts in Seattle Children’s High-Risk Leukemia Program.
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Authors: Ashley Speller and Jenni Carson
PART THREE: From witnessing exceptional care and compassion given to children in their own lives, to receiving treatment first-hand, this weekly series features Seattle Children’s employees and the life experiences that drove them to pursue careers in healthcare.
Top: After receiving treatment at Seattle Children’s for chronic pain and arthritis, Johanna celebrated her 15th birthday. Bottom: Today, Johanna and her husband, Carlos.
Seattle Children’s has been part of Johanna Sánchez-Vargas’s life since she was 13 years old. Her family immigrated from Guerrero, Mexico to a small agricultural town in the Yakima Valley. There, the family planted roots and started working as farmworkers.
Throughout her childhood, Sánchez-Vargas experienced chronic pain and arthritis, and was treated in Seattle Children’s Rheumatology Program for spondyloarthropathies, a group of inflammatory diseases of the joints and areas where tendons attach to bones. It typically affects the lower part of a child’s body, including the hips, knees and ankles.
“Predominantly, I had persistent pain that hindered my ability to walk,” she said. “As a kid, I struggled with being visibly disabled. I remember going through the halls of my middle school with my wheelchair and feeling isolated for being different.”
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Authors: Casey Egan
Beginning Dec. 14, Seattle Children’s began offering updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines to children aged 6 months to 5 years old at our hospital campus.
The Moderna bivalent vaccine is available as a booster to children aged 6 months to 5 who have received two doses of the monovalent Moderna COVID-19 vaccine series.
The Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine is available to children aged 6 months to 4 years as a third dose to those who have not completed their three-dose primary Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine series. The Pfizer bivalent vaccine is not yet approved for use as a booster for this age group.
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Authors: Madison Joseph
Seattle Children’s Magnuson will serve as the new hub for autism and behavioral health care, outreach, training and research
On December 12, 2022, Seattle Children’s opened the doors to Seattle Children’s Magnuson, which will serve as the new hub for autism and behavioral health care, outreach, training and research, in order to better meet the needs of youth and families in our community.
“Seattle Children’s is working to create a future where every young person has access to evidence-based mental and behavioral health services when and where they need them,” said Dr. Carol Rockhill, Medical Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinics, Seattle Children’s. “Seattle Children’s Magnuson is a huge step in that direction, providing more treatment rooms and clinical spaces, better technology, gathering spaces for families and children with mental health care needs, autism and more.”
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Authors: Ashley Speller
Pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients with cancer and blood disorders in the greater Pacific Northwest will be cared for at a new state-of-the-art facility specifically designed for transformative, patient-centered care.
On Dec. 5, the Cancer and Blood Disorders Center (CBDC) officially opened the doors to its new outpatient space at Forest B. Forest B is a 310,000 square-foot addition to Seattle Children’s hospital campus that continues to open in phases throughout 2022.
In addition, the new Seattle Children’s Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Clinic will join CBDC’s outpatient clinic space at Forest B. This move concludes the last phase of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance restructuring that created the Fred Hutchison Cancer Center and brings all pediatric cancer and blood disorders programs under one roof at Seattle Children’s — making it easier for patients and their families to receive the same exceptional and compassionate care from the dedicated teams at both organizations.
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Authors: Rose Ibarra
This is the second holiday season Seattle Children’s Building Maintenance Technician Jerome Ramos will spend with his family in the hospital.
His daughter has been in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant since July 2021. Before coming to Seattle Children’s, 10-month-old Kaelyn, of Honolulu, Hawaii, was experiencing shortness of breath.
When her face puffed up one day, her parents, Jerome and Christine Ramos, thought Kaelyn was having an allergic reaction and brought her to their local emergency department. Providers ruled out allergies, but recommended Kaelyn have an echocardiogram (ECHO) — a common test used to measure heart function.
Shortly after leaving Kaelyn with the technician, Christine and Jerome heard a voice over the hospital paging system: “Code Blue, ECHO.” “We were in shock,” Christine remembers. “She seemed fine when we dropped her off but when we got back to Kaelyn, we saw our child being resuscitated. It was devastating.”
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Authors: Ashley Speller and Jenni Carson
PART TWO: From witnessing exceptional care and compassion given to children in their own lives, to receiving treatment first-hand, this weekly series features Seattle Children’s employees and the life experiences that drove them to pursue careers in healthcare.
Meagan Newman was a Seattle Children’s patient three decades ago
Meagan Newman’s relationship with Seattle Children’s began 30 years ago.
At just 3 years old, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and spent the next two and a half years in and out of the hospital for treatment.
“At the time, my dad was an anesthesia resident at the hospital and he suddenly had a glimpse into the day-to-day challenges of managing care for a child with cancer,” she explained.
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Authors: Heather Cooper
You may be hearing about a respiratory infection that’s hitting babies and young children particularly hard this year, sometimes resulting in hospital stays. The current headlines are referring to RSV, which is short for respiratory syncytial virus.
On the Pulse asked Dr. Tony Woodward, medical director of emergency medicine at Seattle Children’s, to share information about RSV in an effort to help parents and caregivers keep their families as healthy as possible through this viral season which also includes flu and COVID-19.
What is RSV?
RSV is a virus passed from person to person that affects the nose, throat and lungs. People of any age can get RSV, but it’s most serious for young children and older adults. Most kids are infected with RSV at least once before they’re 2 years old. For healthy people, RSV usually results in a cold, but some people get very sick, developing bronchiolitis, wheezing/asthma or pneumonia.
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Authors: Ashley Speller, Kendall Ault and Bob Sable
Jamie Phillips, Seattle Children’s senior vice president and chief operating officer
Seattle Children’s is thrilled to welcome Jamie Phillips as its senior vice president and chief operating officer (COO).
As a leader with over 25 years of healthcare administration experience, Phillips comes onboard with both an exceptional resume and a genuine desire to serve and make a difference for Seattle Children’s patients, families and workforce.
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