Authors: Ashley Speller
Stuffy nose, sneezing, and itchy or watery eyes are a few indications that a child may be suffering from allergies. These symptoms are most often triggered during the spring and summer months but it can sometimes be tough to differentiate the cause among other illnesses that tend to spread this time of year.
On the Pulse answers some common questions about springtime allergies from parents and caregivers.
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Authors: Amanda Maier
Bennett (right) pictured with his family, received care in Seattle Children’s NICU for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
For newborn babies recovering from a difficult birth resulting in a brain injury, Seattle Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team employs a surprising therapy — they lay some babies “on ice.”
On the Pulse shares how this cooling treatment can help newborns heal and stop further damage from happening.
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Authors: Madison Joseph
Autism Acceptance Month is a time to foster inclusion of the autism community. This goes beyond simply promoting education about the differences and abilities of people with autism— it is a commitment to understanding, respecting, and celebrating those differences and abilities from across the diverse range of the autism spectrum.
Seattle Children’s Autism Center holds space for the varied truths and narratives that co-exist in the world of autism, and believes that every person with autism has the right to thrive: to be accepted, included, celebrated and to live their best life. Some individuals with autism need high levels of support in their daily lives, while others are able to reach their goals with relative independence. And many others fall somewhere in between—benefitting from support in some areas and independence in others.
All deserve not just awareness of their differences, but true acceptance and inclusion. This requires a shift for all of us—not just in our healthcare and education systems to provide needed supports and therapies to autistic individuals—but in our society as a whole to broaden our appreciation of diverse lived experiences and recognition of the value of neurodiversity.
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Authors: Ashley Speller
At the Cure FactoryTM in Seattle Children’s Building CureTM, cell products for patients enrolled in clinical trials are manufactured on-site in downtown Seattle
Seattle Children’s, an international leader in the effort to better treat cancer in children, teens and young adults by boosting the immune system with immunotherapy, has reached a new milestone by enrolling its 500th patient in its chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy clinical trials in 10 years.
T cells play a key role in fighting pathogens and regulating the immune system. Through a potentially game-changing experimental treatment called cancer immunotherapy, a patient’s own T cells are “reprogrammed” into CAR T cells that can hunt down and destroy cancer cells wherever they are hiding in the body.
Support from more than 24,000 donors in all 50 states and across 17 other countries has raised more than $123 million to date to move this research forward. Historically, only 4% of the federal cancer research budget was allocated to pediatric cancer. In 2021, advocacy efforts helped increase that percentage to 8%, but there is a significant need for additional funding and philanthropy in pediatric cancer research to help scientists advance this important work and open new trials sooner.
On the Pulse looks back at the remarkable stories of Seattle Children’s patients who fought and beat cancer over the last decade, and shares where they are today.
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Authors: Ashley Speller
Cleft teams from Seattle, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana joined together for the PACT program’s 5-day workshop
Every year, Seattle Children’s Craniofacial Center treats hundreds of children with craniofacial conditions and rare syndromes. Cleft lip and cleft palate are among the most common kinds of birth defects in the United States, and affects more than 1 in 1000 newborns around the world.
The lip and palate (roof of mouth) form in early pregnancy. Cleft lip is a separation of the two sides of the upper lip and a cleft palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth that occurs when the two sides of the palate do not bond together. A cleft palate can impact a child’s ability to speak, swallow and sometimes hear properly.
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Authors: Madison Joseph
Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental health conditions seen and treated at Seattle Children’s.
Although sometimes confused, they are different classes of disorders. Some of the confusion stems from an overlap in symptoms and in fact, people often experience both at the same time.
Dr. Kalina Babeva and Dr. Sonia Venkatraman, co-directors of the Mood and Anxiety Program at Seattle Children’s, dive into these conditions with On the Pulse to answer some frequently asked questions from patients and families.
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Authors: Anna Altavas
It has been a monumental year since the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC) Othello location opened its doors to patient families in March 2022 near the Othello Link light rail station in southeast Seattle’s Rainier Valley.
Since then, the clinic has provided quality care with dignity to more than 40,000 patients in the community through its innovative, integrated approach where services including pediatric medical care, behavioral health, dental services, nutrition, sports medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy, x-ray and imaging and much more, all available under the same roof at the same appointment, if needed.
Many community-oriented events and key milestones have taken place in the year since the clinic opened. On the Pulse shares a look back and what’s to come.
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Authors: Ashley Speller
Dr. Alicia Henriquez provides care for Seattle Children’s patient, Manny
For families caring for children with nervous system disorders, compassionate, state-of-the-art care is sometimes out of reach.
When Dr. Alicia Henriquez, a clinical assistant professor of Neurology in Seattle Children’s Neurosciences Center, joined the organization two years ago, she hoped to be part of a team that would change that.
“I wanted to work with the Spanish-speaking community and with the regional clinics because in Eastern Washington there’s a large population of Spanish speakers,” Dr. Henriquez, who specializes in pediatric neuromuscular neurology and is multilingual, explained. “I knew it would be a good fit.”
Seattle Children’s has specialty regional clinics around the state, including Bellevue, Everett, Federal Way, Olympia, Tri-Cities and Wenatchee, and works closely with local healthcare providers to meet the needs of families in their home community.
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Authors: Elizabeth Dimarco
Enjoli Harris, patient scheduler for Seattle Children’s Sickle Cell Program and “sickle cell mom” with her son, Nehemiah
When patients and families with sickle cell disease (SCD) call Seattle Children’s to schedule appointments, they are greeted by the friendly voice of Enjoli Harris, who is a skilled member of the SCD patient scheduling team and a “sickle cell mom.”
Harris’ youngest child, Nehemiah, was diagnosed with SCD at birth almost 12 years ago and has been receiving care at Seattle Children’s, including at the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC), ever since. The frequent visits have helped Harris not only empathize with the concerns of families, but also better navigate their scheduling needs.
SCD is a group of blood conditions that affect hemoglobin, the part of red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells in the body. In the United States, approximately 100,000 Americans are affected by SCD, most of whom are of African or Hispanic heritage, however the disease can affect anyone, especially people of southern European, Middle Eastern or Asian Indian heritage.
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Authors: Madison Joseph, Kate Citoli and Ashley Speller
For parents with children or teens who are having problems at home or at school for more than six months due to trouble with attention, learning or behavior, understanding if it’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or a related disorder, is important.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder and is the most common mental health disorder during childhood. It can be effectively treated in most cases, and improvement happens most quickly with the combination of medicines and behavior therapy.
With ADHD affecting up to 10% of the population, parents and caregivers of adolescents diagnosed with ADHD often have many questions. To help answer some of those most commonly asked, On the Pulse spoke with Dr. Erin Gonzalez, Co-Director of the Behavior and Attention Management Program in Seattle Children’s Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department.
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