KidsFirst

SPRING 2014

A quarterly publication of the Children’s Hospital of Georgia

GEORGIADR. PAUL BROWNE, SECTION CHIEF OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY WHO SPECIALIZES IN HIGH-RISK MATERNAL-FETAL MEDICINE, SEES PATIENT BRITTANY COLBERT DURING AN UNSCHEDULED VISIT. THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF GEORGIA AND GEORGIA REGENTS MEDICAL CENTER WORK CLOSELY TOGETHER ON COMPLEX COUPLET CARE – THE JOINT TREATMENT OF MOTHER AND NEWBORN.

To make an appointment with a pediatric or adolescent medicine specialist, call 706-721-KIDS (5437).

Need a Pediatrician?

gru.edu/kidsfacebook.com/gachildrenstwitter.com/gachildrens

GEORGIA Kids First

Children’s Hospital of Georgia Emergency Department Now Open 24/7

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Welcome:

 This edition of Georgia Kids First features Dr. Charles Howell, CHOG Surgeon-in-Chief, discussing pediatric surgery and complex couplet care. Pediatric care for hospitalized children took place on the eighth floor of Georgia Regents Medical Center until a freestanding facility, the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, opened in 1998. This 154-bed facility is staffed by board-certified and fellowship-trained pediatric specialists.  CHOG surgical care, which targets all types of congenital anomalies in addition to other surgical needs, is supplemented with helicopter transports for critically ill or injured patients and a trauma center with child-specific emergency rooms, units, and operating rooms.

Dates to remember:

May 1-3   Be sure to set aside your kids’ outdated belongings during this year’s spring cleaning and donate them to Consign for Kids. The organization will host a rummage sale May 1-3 at Crossbridge Baptist Church in Augusta, with proceeds benefiting CHOG. For more information, visit consignforkids.com

Consign for Kids

Children’s Miracle Network Telethon

June 1

 Tune in Sunday, June 1, as WRDW-TV Channel 12 broadcasts live from the CHOG lobby to share stories of patients and families. All local proceeds from the telethon benefit CHOG, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

For more information, visit bit.ly/CHOGCare.

May 9

 The weather isn't the only thing heating up in Augusta. The Kelsi Long Memorial Foundation is teaming with Buffalo Wild Wings May 9 for a Percentage Party, with the restaurant donating 15 percent of that day’s sales to CHOG. For more information, visit kelfoundation.org.

Percentage Party

• Dr. Paul Browne, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, treats in utero anomalies. Moms-to-be learn what to expect when surgery is needed, meet with a neonatologist, visit the neonatal intensive care unit, and if needed, secure lodging at Augusta’s Ronald McDonald House (soon relocating on campus) for a prolonged stay.

• Dr. Ian Heger, a pediatric neurosurgeon, specializes in craniofacial, brain, spinal cord, and trauma surgery.

• Dr. Christian Walters, the newest member of the CHOG pediatric surgery team, grew up in Anderson, S.C., and specializes in minimally invasive surgery.

 In addition to treating children at CHOG, the pediatric surgeons visit multiple sites throughout the state, ensuring compassionate, state-of-the-art treatment for citizens even in the farthest reaches of the state. To refer a patient for pediatric surgery, call 706-721-3941.

BIT.LY/SOPHIESSTORY Children’s Hospital of Georgia Emergency Department Now Open 24/7

This issue highlights several physicians who optimize complex couplet care at Georgia Regents Medical Center:

Welcome:

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GEORGIA Kids First

Dr. Ian Heger, Pediatric NeurosurgeonDoing What’s Next

Pediatric NeurosurgeonDr. Ian Heger

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Neurosurgical conditions treated at CHOG include:

Taking Treatment to the Next Level:

 Dr. Ian Heger, Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery, draws on innovative possibilities to provide the best care possible to his patients. “What we have built is a pediatric neurosurgery program where any neurosurgical problem that occurs in a child, we can handle easily here,” says Heger, who joined the faculty in 2012. A network of physicians is ready to provide any kind of treatment needed, including treatment of rare conditions.  “The first thing that struck me about CHOG is the physical layout of things,” says Heger. “We have a freestanding children’s hospital adjacent to an adult facility, so resources for any type of complex care, including those not generally available at a children’s hospital, are right here." Heger treats patients not only in the area, but in rural areas throughout Georgia and bordering South Carolina.  “As CHOG develops more relationships in [outlying] areas, we in turn see more patients from those areas,” shares Heger. 

• Cost-effective telemedicine reaches children in rural areas. • CHOG embraces even the most difficult neurosurgical cases.

• Resources include innovative epilepsy surgical techniques.

• Developing innovative treatments for various pediatric neurosurgical conditions that will become the "treatments of tomorrow."

 Heger relishes “doing the what’s next” in treating children’s neurological conditions.

• craniofacial abnormalities  • craniosynostosis• brain and spinal cord tumors • spina bifida• Chiari malformations  • neurological trauma

DDr. Christian Walters Seeking the Greatest Rewards for the Youngest Patients

 Dr. Christian Walters, who joined CHOG after completing a pediatric surgery fellowship in 2013, cites his third-year medical school rotation in general surgery in solidifying his career path. “It was really the first rotation for me where I wasn’t watching the clock to get back to studying,” says Walters.  The next spring, he completed his pediatric rotation and never looked back. “I get to take care of kids, which I love,” says Walters. “But I also get to operate on them and make really tangible differences in their lives.”  Walters loves the collegiality of his fellow pediatric surgeons, as well as their shared goal of quality care for children. He also appreciates CHOG’s community support, citing extras such as donated gifts for pediatric surgery patients.  Walters’ biggest reward is improving quality of life from the earliest stage. But as vital as the surgical procedures are, he knows how daunting they can be.

Pediatric Surgeon

Dr. Christian Walters

The DinoStore offers a variety of donated toys for pediatric surgery patients. For more information, visit bit.ly/CHOGToyDonations.

  “Being a parent myself,” says Walters, “I feel I would know what it would be like to hand over my child to someone for major surgery. There is a real sense of responsibility as a surgeon to try to give the best possible outcome that you can.”

GEORGIA Kids First

Dr. Paul BrowneComplex Couplet Care

I It goes without saying that CHOG treats children of all ages, including newborns. But treatment actually begins even before birth, with the adjacent Georgia Regents Medical Center providing the best care possible for pregnant women.  Dr. Paul Browne, Section Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology, specializes in high-risk maternal-fetal medicine and directs the Prenatal Care Center for the region. The center treats pregnant mothers with complications requiring special screening tests not offered by a general obstetrician. “We see a lot of people here where the doctors have done an ultrasound on a patient and are worried there is a birth defect,” says Browne. “We also see patients who have an increased risk for birth defects due to family history.” His staff administers approximately 6,000 such tests a year, about 200 of which identify a birth defect prenatally. “The earliest kinds of birth defects that we diagnose are probably within the first two to three months,” says Browne, noting examples such as spina bifida and heart defects.  

 Early diagnosis is key to care for mom and baby, says Browne, adding that CHOG offers a certified first-trimester test.  “The test involves making a measurement in an ultrasound and pricking the patient’s finger and getting a little drop of blood,” says Browne. “We can combine some information from the chemistry test and the ultrasound to predict the risk of heart defects and Down syndrome.”  Although some birth defects place the mother-to-be between a rock and a hard place, many of them are treatable.  “We counsel the patient as a team, “ says Browne. “We have a team of people who include pediatric surgeons, neonatal intensive care unit physicians, anesthesiologists, and the OB-GYN team.” Browne encourages OB-GYN and pediatric physicians to consider referring patients to the clinic for pre-conceptual counseling for women with a history of birth defect pregnancies.

6Sonographers Charla Hightower and Melanie Durnen with mom-to-be Brittany Colbert

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Breakfast Favorite Could Help Sick Kids

 The community pitched in to help sick kids by eating pancakes at IHOP on March 4. Patrons were invited to enjoy this breakfast favorite – not just in the morning, but all day during this filling fundraiser. More than 1,400 IHOP restaurants nationwide, including three in the Augusta-Aiken area, served complimentary short stacks of IHOP’s signature buttermilk pancakes. In return, they asked diners to consider donating what they would have paid for the meal to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. IHOP’s Pancake Day brought in more than $3,200 last year for CHOG, the local CMN hospital. “That money was used to purchase a child-sized stationary bike to provide patients an age-appropriate means of aerobic activity during prolonged hospital stays. And the children have had a blast riding it,” said Mary Lou Stilwell, a Senior Physical Therapist at CHOG. In addition, the donations funded a balance trainer to improve core strength and balance and specialty car seats to accommodate children in casts. “Our therapists have extensive training in assessing which specialty car seat will allow children to be transported safely

until they can get their casts off. All of this equipment is essential, and the program could not be supported without the generous donations from the community through a program like Pancake Day,” said Stilwell.

Georgia Regents University’s First Lady Cindy Azziz collects donations for CHOG on International House of Pancakes’ National Pancake Day.

Cindy Azziz

• 3125 Peach Orchard Road, Augusta

• 4361 Washington Road, Evans

• 180 Aiken Mall Drive, Aiken

The following local IHOP locations participated in the fundraiser:

Children’s Hospital of Georgia Georgia Regents University1120 15th Street, T-101Augusta, GA 30912

C H A N G E S E R V I C E R E Q U E S T E D

Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDAugusta, GA

Permit No. 210

IHOP Serves Up Pancakes for Kids

For more information or to make a donation, call 706-721-4004 or visit giving.gru.edu.

gru.edu/k ids

CHOG PATIENT ALEXIS SMITH SHOWS OFF A SHORT STACK OF PANCAKES FROM THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES TO BENEFIT THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF GEORGIA.

Wrong address? Need to update your information?Tell us by email at updateinfo@gru.eduGo online to gru.edu/updateinfoOr call us at 706-721-4001