Loma Linda University Children's Hospital and Foundation
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59869-LLU.qxp 8/1/06 4:50 PM Page 1 miracles 2005 Annual Report Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital and Foundation L OMA L INDA U NIVERSITY C HILDREN’ S H OSPITAL AND F OUNDATION 59869-LLU.qxp 8/1/06 4:50 PM Page 2 vision To be a champion for children by bringing world-class healthcare to every child under our watchful care, guided by the principles of the healing ministry of Christ. mission Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital continues the healing ministry of Christ, focusing on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of children and their families. Through valued professionals, staff, community partners, and friends, we seek to enhance the lives of our community’s children by delivering on the promise of a healthier future today. values We are grounded in our vision every day by remaining true to our core values: • Ministry • Compassion • Excellence • Innovation 9 • Stewardship 59869-LLU.qxp 8/1/06 4:50 PM Page 3 realized contents x5 Letter from the Administrator and Foundation Board Chair x6 Twin Miracles 12 Endowments 17 Champions 18 Shining Star Funds 20 Community Partners 46 Heritage Society 48 At a Glance 50 Big Hearts for Little Hearts Guilds 54 Foundation Board 59869-LLU.qxp 8/1/06 4:51 PM Page 4 59869-LLU.qxp 8/1/06 4:51 PM Page 5 letter from the administrator & board chair Dear Friend of Children, Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital is a place of miracles. Each of the children who come to us for care is full of promise. It is our privilege to be partners in healing, helping them to grow into the miracle they are to their family, community, and God. In this report, you will read the story of one such miracle—twin miracles, actually. Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital began planning to care for Cristina and Crystal Molina long before they were even born. Just three months into her pregnancy, their mother, Blanca Cabrera, learned that her twins were craniopagus—joined at the head. From that time until the girls were eight months old, a team of physicians and staff developed plans for separation. Their meticulous care and commitment to the best future for the two little girls culminated in successful separation surgery on March 3, 2005. Today the girls are growing up here in Southern California, beautiful, happy, and healthy. Hospital and FoundationLoma Linda University Children’s Annual Report 2005 As the population of this region expands more rapidly than almost anywhere else in the country, so does our service to its children. In 2005, we cared for 12,653 children, five percent more than in the previous year. Outpatient visits rose to 105,483, a 12 percent increase over 2004. We also cared for children from around the world, including a 12-year-old boy from Afghanistan who no doubt would have died without heart surgery provided free of charge at Loma Linda. His life was saved because of the compassion of American troops serving in his homeland who saw the need and found a way to meet it. The commitment of our staff at Children’s Hospital is matched by the generosity and caring of our donors and friends. Cash contributions from individuals were higher last year than at any time since Children’s Hospital opened in 1993. In addition, support from our corporate “Champions,” those who host fundraising events to benefit Children’s Hospital, exceeded $1 million for the first time in our history. This support made it possible for us to care for low-income, uninsured, and vulnerable children. Generous contributions also ensured that children under our care received treatment from world-class specialists using state-of-the-art equipment in an environment designed for the comfort of children. While cash contributions provide for the needs of children today, endowments help ensure healthcare for future generations of children. Through an act of generosity and compassion in the 1960s, the late Congressman Jerry L. Pettis and his wife, Congresswoman 5 Shirley N. Pettis, established named endowments to support pediatric cancer research and clinic care. In 2005, we were honored to recognize their gift by rededicating the pediatric hematology/oncology and stem cell transplant wing in honor of the Pettis family. As we seek to care for an ever-larger population of children living in Southern California, we value your partnership and commitment. We trust that this report will provide you with a glimpse of the ways your support is helping children and ensuring that the miracles that happen here will continue as long as there are children who need them. Sincerely, Barbara Robinson, Chair Zareh Sarrafian, Administrator Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital Foundation Board 59869-LLU.qxp 8/1/06 4:51 PM Page 6 twin miracles The miracle began at 7:30 on a Thursday morning. The two tiny girls were tucked into bed—specially made for them and donated by Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI)—and put into a deep sleep by the team of anesthesiologists. The babies’ small skulls were bolted into place so there would be no movement whatsoever, not even a flinch, as the surgical team began its work. Renatta Osterdock, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital and team leader on the case, had been preparing for this moment since long before the babies were born. When she and the team were finished, the twins would be separate individuals for the very first time. What was to become known as the “Journey of Hope” began with a routine ultrasound three months into Blanca Cabrera’s pregnancy. Yes, she was carrying twins. But they were joined at the head, a condition known as craniopagus twins. Only 35 such cases have been reported since 1928. Dr. Osterdock vividly remembers the phone call from the obstetrician: “Can you come talk to the mom and tell her what’s going to happen?” Dr. Osterdock paused. In six years of residency, a year of fellowship, and then years of clinical practice, she had never even seen conjoined twins. But she knew from professional meetings that advances in CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging were making separations more successful. She agreed to take the case and immediately began to research procedures, six months before the babies were due to arrive in the world. “I started looking at what other people had done. What kind of technology did they use? What kind of studies needed to be done on the babies?” she recalls. A fetal MRI was reassuring. Though the twins’ heads were joined, they did not appear to share brain tissue or blood vessels. That could change, though, as they grew. “Over time they would become more and more connected,” she explains. Separating them as early as possible would be an important key to success. 59869-LLU.qxp 8/1/06 4:51 PM Page 7 On July 16, 2004, Cristina and Crystal were born by C-section at Loma Linda, two months premature but with no complications. They were two beautiful, lively little girls whose skulls were fused. They could see the world, but not each other. Six months later the twins returned to Loma Linda to prepare for separate lives. Three-dimensional models created from CT scans and MRIs, provided free of charge by Medical Modeling in Colorado, allowed the surgical team to visualize exactly what they would Hospital and FoundationLoma Linda University Children’s Annual Report 2005 encounter in the separation. The scans also confirmed the need for separation to take place as soon as possible. “By the third set of images, we saw that the facial artery of one twin was beginning to drain into the facial vein of her sister,” says Dr. Osterdock. “Doing surgery younger was probably safer.” “They were two beautiful, lively little girls whose skulls were fused. They could see the world, but not each other.” Jeannie Martinez, a long-time case manager in pediatric intensive care at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, was planning to retire in a few weeks when she got a 7 call from Janel Isaeff, executive director for patient care, that put her plans on hold. “There’s going to be a special project,” Isaeff said, “and I’d like you to head it.” She talked with Martinez about the twins and arranged for her to meet with Dr. Osterdock and with the hospital’s Media Relations staff. “OK, Jeannie, you’re it,” said Isaeff a few days later. “Go ahead and form your team.” It would take 40 or more nurses, plus occupational, physical, and speech therapists, child life specialists, and a chaplain to see the girls through to their brand new life. Martinez put retirement on hold. The twins were scheduled to check into the hospital on January 2, 2005, to begin two months of preparation for surgery. A key part of preparation would be tissue expansion. “There was another set of twins joined at the head that were separated very successfully in Italy,” Dr. Osterdock says. “Neurologically, they did great. But they had skin grafts where their skulls were separated, so they ended up without hair, which is a pretty 59869-LLU.qxp 8/1/06 4:51 PM Page 8 twin miracles, continued significant deformity. We wanted to use the twins’ own skin to cover the separation spot so they could have normal hair.” There was just one major difficulty. Unlike adults, infants have soft skulls. “People are often very afraid to put tissue expanders in babies,” Dr.