Nemours Champions for Children

In 2010, when he was 15, Dr. Manuel "Manny" Gonzales was a sophomore in high school and a varsity cross-country runner when he received a stunning diagnosis: cancer. At that time, he underwent a grueling regimen to battle the disease: 10 rounds of chemotherapy, thirteen lumbar punctures, and countless hours spent in both the inpatient and outpatient settings of the hospital where he was being treated: Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware. His experience changed his life, creating a passion for becoming a pediatric oncologist.  Dr. Gonzales shared his story on Episode 56 of the podcast. We've invited him back to check in on his health and career path as he completes his pediatric residency at Nemours and heads into a hematology/oncology fellowship.  Dr. Gonzales was recently nominated as a Visionary of the Year Candidate for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He is raising money to power innovative research for newer and safer therapies needed in pediatric oncology. Click here for more information on his campaign and to join his fundraising team. Carol Vassar, producer

The season of rebirth, renewal, and growth is here: Spring. And for many, it brings with it thoughts of putting our hands in the soil and planting seeds or transplanting seedlings in gardens. That's exactly what is happening right now on the Nemours Estate in Wilmington, Delaware. The Can Grow Garden is a collaboration between the estate and Nemours Children's Hospital Delaware to grow plants and provide a place for patient, family, and associate education and respite. The grown plants - mainly vegetables - provide food for the community to help alleviate food insecurity and teach healthy cooking and eating. Carol Vassar, producer View the Can Grow Garden video here.  For more information on the Can Grow Garden, contact Judy Lieberman

Nemours' Chief Well-being Officer Dr. Maureen Leffler provides an update on the well-being of the healthcare workforce, both nationally and at Nemours. We'll explore the burnout that is plaguing the healthcare workforce and what Nemours is doing to counteract that, get an update on the enterprise peer support program launched in 2020 and now open to all associates, and the newly created Nemours Center for Associate well-being.  Well-being resources for Nemours associates. Nemours' Employee Wellness Benefits Carol Vassar, producer

As the pandemic was settling in on the world in 2020, a Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando resident was pondering a way to take her work out of the hospital and into the community. Her vision of well beyond medicine: a mobile clinic providing health care (and so much more) to underinsured or uninsured children and families in Greater Orlando. A fortuitous encounter with a Nemours grant writer yielded the seed money to make this resident's dream a reality. Featuring Nemours Associates Dr. Laura Chilcutt, Dr. Branden Trandai, and Gabe Krivenko. Carol Vassar, producter

Ensuring the U.S. has a well-trained pediatric workforce is critical. Listen in as Dr. Larry Moss, President and CEO, Nemours Children's Health, and Amy Knight, President of the Children's Hospital Association, discuss Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education funding. They offer policy recommendations to address the current pediatric workforce shortage, including a call to Congress to increase CHGME funding, reauthorization of the program, and more. Carol Vassar, producer

On Mar. 2, 2023, the Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation of Wilmington, Delaware donated $78 million to dramatically expand Nemours' capacity to provide clinical care for children with cancer, sickle cell disease, and other blood disorders. Learn more about this donation, including how it happened, from William (Bill) Martin, President of the Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation, and Mark Mumford, Chief Operating Officer for Nemours Children's Health.  Carol Vassar, producer

This episode features conversations about raising resilient kids based on the video series of the same name. It's a partnership between Nemours Children's Health and the Michael Phelps Foundation and features the most decorated Olympian of all time and his wife, Nicole, as your hosts. Together, they talk with Nemours experts about the world's hardest job: being a parent. Nicole and Michael are the parents of three young sons and face the same concerns and challenges that all parents do when it comes to helping kids grow to be healthy, happy, and resilient.  Learn more about the Michael Phelps Foundation Carol Vassar, producer

We're talking about how parents learn to become parents, focusing on a parent training management program launched last fall at Nemours Children's Hospital Floridie for parents whose children have been diagnosed with ADHD. Our guests on this episode developed it: Dr. Lisa Spector, division chief of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at Nemours Children's, Florida, and her colleague Dr. Corinne Bria, a pediatric emergency medicine physician. Dr. Bria holds a master's of medical education with an emphasis on curriculum, implementation, and evaluation, which fits nicely with her role as interim program director for the Nemours Children's, Florida, pediatric residency program.  For more information on this parent training program, please email FLPrevention@nemours.org Carol Vassar, producer

Nemours' Director of Talent Services Dr. Allison Craft is an ardent advocate for associate engagement across the enterprise. In this podcast, she'll share high-level results of the most recent employee engagement survey. She'll also reveal the very personal reason why she's so passionate about employee engagement, which has its origins in an experience so profound that it led her to leave her dream job with NASA to join Nemours and further the engagement mission. Carol Vassar, producer

For more than forty years, Nemours has been leading the way in voice synthesis, voice banking and related assistive technology. This is thanks to the leadership of Dr. Tim Bunnell, Director of the Center for Pediatric Auditory and Speech Sciences at Nemours Children's Hospital in Delaware. He also heads up Model Talker, a small group of Nemours scientists who helps create synthetic voices for people worldwide, applying the latest technology and research, including predictive analytics. They even allow people to bank their voices, if able, or for you to bank a voice for someone else who might need one.  Carol Vassar, producer. 

Strange as it may sound, spite was exactly why Child's Play was founded in 2003. Child's Play - based in the technology hub of Redmond, Washington, home to Microsoft and Nintendo in America - is a gamer-led charity driving the movement to bring video gaming to pediatric hospitals like Nemours and other non-profits that serve children across the nation and across the world.  Hear more about Child's Play - its background, mission, and partnership with Nemours in both Delaware and Florida - from Erick Blandin, Pediatric Gaming Technology Manager for Child's Play, and Nemours Gaming and Technology Specialist Scott Shaw, whose position is funded by a capacity building grant from Child's Play.  Carol Vassar, producer

Video games and virtual reality (VR) have long been a staple in the pediatric healthcare setting, and it's now becoming a part of the Child Life mission of leading pediatric hospitals like Nemours. In this episode, we talk with Scott Shaw, Nemours' Child Life Gaming and Technology Specialist. He is one of just 50 such people in the burgeoning field of gaming in healthcare. He joined Nemours in 2022 to take a position funded partly by a grant from Child's Play, a game industry charity. Child's Play provides funding, technical assistance, and ongoing education to grantees to make the healthcare experience a little less daunting for patients, families, and even staff.  Learn more about the Child's Play Charity Donate to support the Child Life Gaming and Technology Program Carol Vassar, producer 

It's our first episode of 2023, featuring the final episode in our occasional series on Precision Medicine at Nemours. Our topic is predictive analytics for the purpose of research. Collecting it, preparing it, analyzing it, and protecting it are the realm of the Nemours Biomedical Research Informatics Center (BRIC). BRIC provides consultation, training, and computational resources to biomedical research investigators across the enterprise and beyond. Our guests are BRIC Director Dr. Timothy Bunnell, and Daniel Eckrich, BRIC's Supervisor for Research Applications. Carol Vassar, producer Listen to other episodes in the Precision Medicine series: Episode 153: What is Precision Medicine (July 25, 2022) Episode 160: Changing Medicine through Pharmacogenomics Research (Sept. 12, 2022) Episode 161: Pharmacogenomics in Practice (Sept. 19, 2022) Episode 168: Biobanking at Nemours (Nov. 7, 2022) Episode 171: Genetic Medicine and Genetic Counseling for Kids (Nov. 28, 2022)  

Nemours Pediatric Psychologist Dr. Danika Perry reveals that her Nemours experience began when she was a high school volunteer - a volun-teen - at what is now the Nemours Children's Hospital in Delaware.  For Dr. Perry, this and other volunteer opportunities would point her to her life's passion: a career as a pediatric psychologist. Carol Vassar, producer

Respiratory therapist L'Tanya Pierce talks about the Nemours Hair Care for Champions project she started in the Delaware Valley Region. It's aimed at providing hospitalized Nemours patients with clean, healthy-looking, and attractive hair as a matter of dignity and pride. It's also a grassroots, bedside example of how Nemours associates go beyond medicine daily.  Please be advised: There are two patient stories in this podcast. Certain details have been left out to ensure their privacy. Details that remain could be difficult or disturbing for some listeners. This is a REBROADCAST of Episode 129, originally released on February 7, 2022 Carol Vassar, producer

It's our year-end holiday remix, and at the center of this podcast episode is what's likely at the center of many traditional holiday celebrations: food. Whether its Ghanaian groundnut stew or Nigerian jollof rice for Kwanzaa, the traditional “seven fishes” served in many Italian-American homes on Christmas Eve, latkes for Chanukah, pork pie for boxing day, or buckwheat soba noodles served at midnight on New Year's Eve in many Japanese homes, traditional foods and holidays seem to go hand in hand.  But what happens if none of the aforementioned foods - or any other traditional holiday foods from across the world - don't fit with your disease state or diagnosed metabolic condition?  In this episode, we revisit the Killian family: Nemours associate and mom-of-two Lindsey and her husband, Tom, who, in November 2021, visited us on the podcast to outline the struggles and joys of being a PKU family. We'll look back on their story, the 2022 formula storage that affected them and get an update on how the family is today now that TJ is a kindergartener.  Carol Vassar, producer

On Nov. 29, 2022, The Nemours Community Relations team put together a webinar featuring Dr. Alexander along with board-certified pediatrician Dr. Maria Petrini from Nemours Children's Health Delaware and moderated by pediatrician Dr. Laura Chilcutt, a policy advisor to the external affairs team at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando. During the webinar, they opened the chat room to parents' pressing questions about each of the tripledemic viruses - for example, how they spread, how they are diagnosed, and how they're treated (or not treated). They also answered some general pediatric medicine questions, such as what constitutes a fever, when and for how long should a sick child stay home from school or daycare,  and the role adults play in prevention. Here today, we present highlights from that Q & A session.  Carol Vassar, producer

The word of the season -  you're hearing it everywhere - is tripledemic. What is it? How might it affect you and your family, especially your children, and, perhaps most importantly, what can you do to keep yourself and your family safe and healthy?  On Nov. 29th, The Nemours Community Relations team put together a webinar featuring Nemours experts in pediatrics and infectious diseases to provide information on the current tripledemic landscape and answer parents' questions about it. It's information so important we're highlighting it on the podcast this week and featuring our experts' answers to parents' questions posed in the webinar next week.  The voices you hear are those of Dr. Kenneth Alexander, board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in Infectious Diseases and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando, and Dr. Maria Petrini. Dr. Petrini is a board-certified pediatrician at Nemours Children's Health, Delaware. She also serves as the medical director of the Delaware Children's Health Network.  Nemours pediatrician Dr. Laura Chilcutt serves as moderator. Dr. Chilcutt is a policy advisor with the external affairs team at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando.  Carol Vassar, producer

Our occasional series on precision medicine at Nemours continues with a look at medical genetics and genetic counseling. According to the American Society of Human Genetics, medical genetics is any application of genetic principles to medical practice. This includes studies of inheritance, mapping disease genes, diagnosis and treatment, and genetic counseling, all offered here at Nemours.  Featuring: Karen Gripp, MD, Pediatrician, and Genetic researcher, NCH Delaware Laura Baker, Genetic Counselor, NCH Delaware Louise Amlie-Wolf, Genetic Counselor, NCH Delaware Carol Vassar, producer

It's Thanksgiving week when families gather to celebrate that for which they are grateful. With the family together in one place, it's a rare opportunity for relatives to talk about and even record family history, including family health histories. That's one lesson that is being learned by teenagers across the nation whose teachers have chosen to avail themselves of a no-cost, evidence-based health education curriculum called "Navigating the Health Care System," developed here at Nemours. Today we are joined by the Nemours associates who created and have made available this curriculum and teachers from Delaware, Illinois, and Alabama to talk about how they have used or are using it in their classrooms.  Kate Blackburn and Denise Hughes from Nemours Children's Health, along with Anyana Starling, Program Manager, Health Literacy Program, Southeast Alabama Area Health Education Center; Christine DeGuzman, Health Education teacher, Brookside campus, Waukegan High School, Waukegan, Illinois and Katie Marianello, Delaware teacher and original curriculum pilot researcher.  Download the "Navigating the Health Care System" curriculum here.  Carol Vassar, producer

At the September 28, 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, a transformational vision and action plan for ending hunger and reducing diet-related disease by 2030 was introduced.  Achieving these goals that lie therein requires commitment and action across government, business, civic and nonprofit organizations, academia,  faith communities, healthcare, and the public at large. This conference showed that such commitment exists and that leaders across all sectors are ready to take up the challenge.  For its part, Nemours was well represented at the conference by Dr. Kara Walker, Executive Vice President and Nemours Chief Population health officer, and Daniella Gratale, Director of the Office of Child Health Policy. They join us in this podcast episode to talk about the conference and Nemours' ongoing commitments to ending hunger, improving health and reducing health disparities. Carol Vassar, producer

Dr. Roger Harrison joins us on this episode of the podcast, and together we'll delve into his work as a pediatric psychologist in the greater Wilmington Delaware area, a role he's had at Nemore for 19 years, and his longstanding passion for health equity and inclusion, which has led to his more recent role with the diversity, anti-racism, inclusion value, and health equity initiative called DRIVE.  Carol Vassar, producer  

Animals are healers. They've been proven to reduce pain, anxiety, and blood pressure, and release endorphins, and even bring joy to what can be a scary place: a hospital. So it's not a surprise for hospitals, health care systems, and long-term care facilities to have pet therapy teams who bring tested, certified, and well-tempered animals - mostly dogs - to comfort patients and families. Nemours has volunteer pet therapy teams at both NCH locations.  Recently, Nemours took the next step in pet therapy, and obtained a specially trained pet assistance, or in-residence, dog. Allie is a full-time Nemours associate who comes to work every day and is part of a child's treatment team. She can comfort children going through procedures, teach kids how to take pills, be there for their families, and even model a hospital gown.  Allie's handler, Child Life Specialist and Pet Therapy Coordinator Kelsey Cebula, joins us on the podcast to talk about her work with Allie at NCH Delaware and her vision for growing this program across the enterprise.  Carol Vassar, producer

Throughout the history of Nemours Children's Health, research has been a crucial part of our mission. As a natural companion effort with clinical work, it has been central to serving patients and families in Delaware, Florida, and beyond.  Nemours' Executive Director of Research, Dr. Vicky Funanage, visits the podcast to provide an overview of research across the enterprise and a preview of Delaware Valley Research Week events happening from Oct. 17 through Oct. 21.  Agenda for 2022 Delaware Valley Research Week Attend virtually via Microsoft TEAMS on Mon., Oct. 17, from 8 a.m. - 1 .m.: Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 276 459 548 918 Passcode: oxEiqk Attend virtually via Microsoft TEAMS on Tues., Oct. 18, from 12 noon - 6 p.m.: Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 258 514 676 747 Passcode: qx2qVP Attend virtually via Microsoft TEAMS on Wed., Oct. 19, from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.: Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 256 850 520 441 Passcode: E247qv Attend virtually via Microsoft TEAMS on Thurs., Oct. 20, from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.: Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 243 803 565 109 Passcode: YhYQYM Attend virtually via Microsoft TEAMS on Fri., Oct. 21, from 12 noon - 4 p.m.: Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 243 803 565 109 Passcode: YhYQYM  

We're honoring Hispanic Heritage Month by talking with associates of Hispanic background about their personal experiences with being Hispanic in America and at Nemours. In this episode, we'll talk with first-year pediatric residents Dr. Natalia Cordona and Dr. Gabriela Guadalupe-Rios from NCH-Florida.   Carol Vassar, producer

Dr. Stephen Dunn is the Chair of the Department of Surgery and Division Chief for the Nemours Solid Organ Transplant Program at Nemours Children's Hospital in Delaware. We're talking with him about his international work, his background as a surgeon, as a public health service veteran, and his determination to bring training, technology, and treatment for children with liver and kidney disease to a wider world, starting at the place where the seeds of his interest in medicine were sewn: rural Indiana. Carol Vassar, producer

Under the broad umbrella of precision medicine falls pharmacogenomics, and within the field of pharamocogenomics, Nemours is involved with both researching and clinically applying pharacogenomics. In the second of two episodes on pharmacogenomics, we'll check in with pharmacists Dr. Benjamin Duong and Dr. Kelsey Cook about what's current in clinical pharmacogenomics, and what's on the horizon, too.  Carol Vassar, producer

Pharmacogenomics is a field of research that studies how a person's genes affect how an individual responds to medications. Its long-term goal is to help doctors select the drugs and doses best suited for each person. It's research that is happening within the walls of Nemours. We'll hear more about it from researcher Dr. Kathryn Blake, Director of the Center for Pharmacogenomics and Translational Research, and research scientist Dr. Ed Mougey.  Carol Vassar, producer

It's Labor Day, and we're talking labor and delivery within the Advanced Delivery Program (ADP) at the Nemours Children's Hospital (NCH) in Delaware. It's a two-and-a-half-year-old program that started as a partnership between ChristianaCare and Nemours Children's Health aimed at having mom's deliver at NCH Delaware if their child had been diagnosed with a fetal anomaly requiring treatment immediately following birth. Nemours is taking on this program solo starting this month, and here to tell us about it are Nemours associates Dr. Margaret Chou and Dr. Joanna Costa.  Carol Vassar, producer

Breastfeeding is not easy. It's a learning experience for moms and babies, especially the first time around. Nemours associate Lindsey Killian faced more barriers than most when it came to her first-time breastfeeding experience: her son was diagnosed with the metabolic disorder PKU when he was just four days old. This required the introduction of specially blended PKU formula to his breastfeeding routine - a staple of his diet (and that of his father, Tom, who also has PKU) to this day. This makes 2022 particularly worrisome, as the Killians, and many other families in the U.S., do their best to find the formula they need amid a nationwide shortage.  Carol Vassar, producer Listen to the Killian family's full PKU journey in these episodes of Champions for Children: Episode 124: What's That You're Eating? Episode 125: Becoming a PKU Family

It is breastfeeding awareness month. And in previous podcast episodes this month, we've talked to the clinical experts on the benefits of breastfeeding to moms and their babies and breastfeeding across cultures. In part three of our Breastfeeding Awareness Month podcast, we'll talk with a breastfeeding mom and a lactation consultant - both Nemours associates- about family and community support and the key role it plays in a mother's breastfeeding journey. Fathers, grandparents, sisters, aunties, and friends all play a role! Featuring Nemours associates Lavisha Palaez and Yolanda Sterling Carol Vassar, producer  

August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month, and in this episode, we'll explore some of the cultural aspects of breastfeeding with Dr. Tara Williams, Nemours General Academic Pediatrician and Breastfeeding Medicine Specialist based in Orlando, and Karina Charra, site coordinator in the Emergency Department of the Nemours Children's Hospital in Delaware, and co-lead of the Adelante Associate Resource Group.  Carol Vassar, producer  

Since 2021, retired healthcare executive Elliot Joseph has been a member of the Nemours Foundation Board of Directors. Prior to his retirement in 2019, he was the CEO of Hartford HealthCare, a fully integrated, multi-specialty healthcare network serving the state of Connecticut. Mr. Joseph brings that expertise, experience, and leadership to Nemours. We'll talk about his Nemours journey,  the path that led him to the business side of healthcare, the function of a board of directors within a not-for-profit healthcare organization, and confirm the rumor that he has a particular passion for a band out of California band known for its eclectic music and dedicated enthusiasts, commonly known as Dead Heads. Carol Vassar, producer

Today we begin an occasional series within the podcast to highlight precision medicine and the associates here at Nemours who are researching and implementing these innovative approaches to medicine, specifically pediatric medicine.  Answering the basic question of "What is precision medicine" are two Nemours geneticists with 73 years of combined experience in genetics and at Nemours: Dr. Pamela Arn, Nemours Division Chief for Genetics, and Dr. Vicky Funanage, Nemours' Operational Vice President for Research. Carol Vassar, producer  

Dr. Wade Shrader has seen Cerebral Palsy (CP) from two important perspectives: that of a physician, a surgeon, and the Chief of the Division of Cerebral Palsy inside the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Nemours Children's Hospital in Delaware, and as the father of four children, two of whom are young adults living with CP.  His perspective as both family member and provider has proved influential in his decision to specialize in CP.  Carol Vassar, producer  

We catch up with performer, singer, Nemours respiratory therapist, and optimist Mary Ann Douglas, who we first met on Episode 4 of the podcast from 2019. In a new interview recorded in July 2022, she provides an update on enduring the COVID-19 pandemic with her PICU team at NCH Orlando, providing stories of lessons learned and stresses born, along with patient stories from that time, which includes singing! Carol Vassar, producer

We're taking a deeper dive into Project HOPE by examining a partnership between Nemours and the State of Oklahoma that brings capacity-building skills and technical assistance to that state to help them in the work of preventing social adversities in early childhood. Featuring Nemours Associate Trevor Lee, Program and Policy Analyst in the Nemours Office of Policy and Prevention in Washington, DC., and  Carrie Williams, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness.   

Nemours' Director of Talent Services Dr. Allison Craft is an ardent advocate for associate engagement across the enterprise. In this podcast, she'll share high-level results of the most recent employee engagement survey. She'll also reveal the very personal reason why she's so passionate about employee engagement, which has its origins in an experience so profound that it led her to leave her dream job with NASA to join Nemours and further the engagement mission. Carol Vassar, producer

Joining us in conversation on this episode of the podcast is Dr. Rachel Thornton, who arrived at Nemours on March 1, 2022, as the inaugural holder of a new leadership position within the enterprise: Enterprise Chief Health Equity Officer. Together, let's get to know Dr. Thornton, her path to becoming a doctor, and her vision for further advancing the health equity work that has been underway here at Nemours for a decade.

Have you been hearing about the new federal holiday? In some parts of the nation, June 19th has long been a celebrated as Solidarity Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, or, most commonly, Juneteenth, which is the name of the new federal holiday. The co-leads of the Nemours African Heritage Associate Resource Group - Danielle David Evans and Kia Gaines -  are here to talk about the origin and history of Juneteenth in the U.S., and how it is being celebrated at Nemours this year.  Carol Vassar, producer

Nemours Pediatric Psychologist Dr. Danika Perry reveals that her Nemours experience began when she was a high school volunteer - a volun-teen - at what is now the Nemours Children's Hospital in Delaware.  For Dr. Perry, this and other volunteer opportunities would point her to her life's passion: a career as a pediatric psychologist. Carol Vassar, producer

According to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, there is a serious mental health crisis happening among our children and youth in the U.S. It affects children, youth, families and communities across the communities Nemours serves. During May is Mental Health Awareness Month, we talk with Nemours associate Dr. Danika Perry about her perspective on the issue. Dr. Perry is the Behavioral Health Program Director of School-Based Wellness Centers in the elementary schools of the Colonial School District in New Castle, Delaware. Carol Vassar, producer

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and what better way to honor that than by letting you know about the newest Nemours Associate Resource Group (ARG), which encompasses those from this rich cultural background, and their allies. It's called the HealthCare alliance of Asian and Pacific Islanders (HAAPI). To talk about their work on this podcast are its executive sponsor Jane Mericle, Chief Nursing Executive and Patient Operations Officer in the Delaware Valley; Dr. Mary Lee, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Lead for Educational Activities across the enterprise as well as physician in chief in the Delaware Valley; Steven Reader, a pediatric psychologist in the division of behavioral health; and Benjamin Duong, a pharmacist by training who is the Clinical Pharmacogenomics Service Manager for the enterprise. Ben also serves as co-leader for the HAPPI ARG.  Carol Vassar, producer  

In the hustle and bustle of 21st-century life in the U.S., pausing for a moment feels like a luxurious indulgence. However, pausing to reflect on the life of a child who has recently died is proving to be an effective coping moment for direct care staff involved. That's what PAUSE - sometimes referred to as "The Pause"- is all about. PAUSE is currently being piloted in the Delaware Pediatric Intensive Care Unit  (PICU), and we talk about its fundamentals with Pastor Patricia Weichart, LCSW Elizabeth Wood, and Dr. Mindy Dickerman, from both the Divisions of Pediatric Critical Care, Palliative Care


Burnout..stress...anxiety...callouts...staffing shortages. The pandemic has taken an immense toll on frontline health care workers and laid bare issues that existed even before COVID-19 gained worldwide infamy. Concern for the mental well-being of frontline staff seemingly dominates news reports and peer-reviewed journals, revealing a depth of distress throughout the health care system like none before it.    What's being done? Nemours has piloted two programs designed to immediately identify situations that put added stress on staff, and provide necessary relief and resources. One of those is called Code Lavender.    Kristen Paliasia is the driving force behind this program in the NICU at Nemours Children's Hospital in Delaware. She joins us to talk about it. 

It goes almost without saying that a hospital can be a scary place for our young patients and their families, and a high-stress work environment for our associates. It's the role of chaplains like Tracy Herman and Ben White to help others navigate that fear and stress by providing emotional and spiritual care. That is the heart of what they do each and every day.