We Stand For Care

Imagine being a parent and taking care of your 2 month old premature baby who is plagued with multiple infections, a swelling belly, and needs multiple surgeries to fix an undetected intestinal torsion (or twisting) caused my infections. Then during the recovery time, having your baby hemorrhage during a liver biopsy and be rushed to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

This sounds terrifying and it is a story, Lilia Martinez lives to tell about her now 2 year-old son, Ricardo. With the ADVANCEMENTS at LPCH, doctors determined that Ricardo needed a combined liver and intestinal transplant. Within less than a month, the team at LPCH successfully replaced Ricardo’s liver and small intestine. However, Lilia noticed that her son had shortness of breath once his breathing tube was removed. The doctors took her concern seriously and called in a team to help FIND ANSWERS. Within minutes Ricardo was being prepped for another surgery that remedied the problem. “That day they gained my complete trust,” Lilia said.

The COMPASSIONATE CARE offered at LPCH doesn’t stop there. The Family-Centered Care Program recognizes that a partnership with parents is the key to quality health care, which was developed by transplant experts and now has grown to encompass every specialty at the hospital. “I liked that they took my opinion seriously. What I said mattered,” stated Lilia.

For more information about Ricardo’s story and the Family-Centered Care Program, click here.

CVS/pharmacy® is MAKING A DIFFERENCE with a $50,000 gift to the Stanford Autism Center at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) to fund a 10-part educational series for Bay Area parents of young children newly diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The series, taught in English and Spanish, is designed to provide information to parents about ASD diagnoses, treatment, and services.

The COLLABORATION between CVS/pharmacy and LPCH will IMPROVE the health and well-being of children and families who face extraordinary challenges, yet are determined to live life to the fullest. “Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder have enormous needs to learn about their children’s conditions, current treatment options, and how to negotiate very complex systems of care,” explains Carl Feinstein, M.D., the Endowed Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Packard Children’s and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The educational series will provide empowerment and much needed support to parents of the community. “CVS/pharmacy is COMMITTED to helping children with disabilities learn, play, and succeed in life,” said Rick Ford, area vice president, Northern California, CVS/pharmacy. “Through this grant, we are proud to be able to help make an impact on the lives of children in Bay area communities.”

For more information on the 10-part series on autism education, click here.

Imagine having your kidney transplanted into a stranger, while your husband gets another stranger’s kidney transplanted into him. This procedure was completed on October 6, 2009 with Yvette and Fred Aziz as part of an extraordinary cross-country chain of linked kidney donations involving 16 patients and 8 kidney transplants at five hospitals over seven days.

The TEAMWORK at Stanford Hospital & Clinics made it possible for the transplants to be arranged within months, allowing for the complex donor chain to save the lives of multiple patients. “There’s such a shortage of donors out there that when you have a donor, you want to make the best use of it,” said Tania Makki, RN, recipient coordinator for Stanford’s kidney transplant program. “These chains allow patients to be transplanted with a living donor, who may not have been otherwise.”

Marc Melcher, MD, an assistant professor of surgery who specializes in kidney and liver transplants praised the close COLLABORATION among the five participating hospitals, with frequent communication among their nurses, surgeons, lab staff and more. “Remember, some of these institutions are competitors,” he said. “But everyone worked together to do the best for our patients.”

This effort didn’t go unnoticed by the Azizes. “The whole team did a great job, from the lowest level to the highest. Their teamwork is 100 percent,” said Fred, adding, “God bless every single person at Stanford.” The couple’s oldest child, 23-year-old Amal said, “…if it weren’t for Stanford, my father might not be here today. They worked diligently to take care of him, and we’re very thankful.”

For more information about Azizes story and the Stanford Hospital & Clinics kidney transplant program, click here.

As of January 1, 2010, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital are 100 percent smoke-free environments. Both hospitals adopted the new policy, eliminating the remaining designated smoking areas and making the perimeter around SHC and LPCH an entirely smoke-free environment.

Along with the School of Medicine’s smoke-free policy, the area that comprises the Stanford University Medical Center will become 100 percent smoke-free. The smoking ban applies to the area bounded by Welch Road, Quarry Road and Campus Drive West.

As is consistent with our values and COMMITTMENT to an environment of healing and wholeness, it was imperative that SHC and LPCH took this step in what is now standard practice for health care facilities.

Our COMMITTMENT to good health and positive health choices is vitally important to all of us in the SHC and LPCH family. As one of the most respected medical centers in the country, it is our responsibility to MAKE A DIFFERENCE by promoting a smoke-free environment for our patients, employees, medical staff, volunteers and visitors.

The neighborhood clinic just got bigger and better. Starting December 7, 2009, patients of Menlo Medical Clinic, an affiliated clinic of Stanford Hospital & Clinics since 1993, can access a second location at 321 Middlefield Road. The strong COLLABORATIVE relationship between Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Menlo Medical Clinic will benefit from the new expanded location by IMPROVING patient care and providing BETTER MEDICINE.

“To better serve our community, we’ve hired more physicians, upgraded our diagnostic and treatment equipment, and expanded the size of our Clinic. In conjunction with Stanford Hospital & Clinics, we have also implemented an electronic medical records system that will allow for smoother transactions for patients and staff,” said Menlo Medical Clinic Chief Operating Officer Jerry Harris.

The new facility on Middlefield Road includes 32 exam rooms, additional laboratory and x-ray services, and ample parking, which will MAKE A DIFFERENCE is seeing an estimated 75,000 patients in 2010 for primary care and outpatient surgical procedures. Not only is the new facility providing space, new ADVANCEMENTS in technology, such as digital mammography, a laser dermatology machine, and flat screen monitors in OB/GYN rooms for viewing ultrasound images, will improve the patient experience.

“Our next goal is to renovate our center on Crane Street to match the quality and esthetics of our new location. Parking at our current location will be greatly improved with the shift of some of our medical services to 321 Middlefield Road,” said Harris.

For more information on the expansion and improvements of the Menlo Medical Clinic, click here.

Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman and her husband, Keith Urban, made a rare Bay Area appearance on November 20, 2009 at Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club to support the Women’s Cancer Program at Stanford. The program, part of the Stanford Cancer Center, is MAKING A DIFFERENCE with the help of dozens of faculty in a comprehensive effort to IMPROVE survival and cure rates for breast and gynecologic cancers.

Jonathan Berek, MD, professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the Stanford School of Medicine, and longtime friend of the actress, invited Kidman to speak to the crowd of 350 people about her firsthand experience during her teenage years when her mother, Janelle, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mother was successfully treated and remains cancer-free today.

“I think that was the pivotal point in my life because I was about to lose — or thought I would lose — the most important person in my family, the heartbeat of my family,” said Kidman, who then resolved to be COMMITTED to helping other women who faced the threat of cancer. “I so believe in the work of the researchers and scholars here,” Kidman told the audience.

Berek is helping Stanford provide BETTER MEDICINE and FIND ANSWERS by bringing together comprehensive research and treatment programs, in which doctors and scientists can work together with the common goal of curing women’s cancer.

He said he hopes the event will help call attention to the health needs of women and engage the community in Stanford’s work in women’s cancer. “We see this as a very bright future in partnering with you,” he told the audience.

For more information about the Women’s Cancer Program at Stanford and Kidman and Urban’s visit, click here.

Stanford Hospital & Clinics is IMPROVING their procedure for bladder-related cancer surgeries with the ADVANCEMENT of robotic equipment that is routinely used for prostate and kidney operations. Mark Gonzalgo, MD, PhD, is one of the few surgeons in Northern California and among a select group nationally to do so because the procedure allows for more precision in executing minimally-invasive procedures but also demands a new level of technical expertise from surgeons.

“Robotically-assisted procedures are less invasive and have a much faster recovery time,” said Gonzalgo, who is an Associate Professor of Urology at the School of Medicine and Director of Robotic-Assisted Urologic Cancer Surgery at Stanford. “I believe that we can achieve the same outcomes with less blood loss, less pain, faster recovery and smaller incisions—which benefit patients.”

Gonzalgo is COMMITTED to serving patients better by training the next generation of urologic surgeons with simulation training and hands-on learning experience. “It all comes down to the most basic thing, which is expertise in understanding surgical anatomy,” he said. “It is that level of expertise that we’re providing at Stanford.”

For more information about Gonzalgo’s advancements in robotic technology, click here.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has announced that it intends to COMMIT up to $100 million for the expansion of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Their generous donation is MAKING A DIFFERENCE to children’s health by adding 104 new beds to its Palo Alto campus and expands access to state-of-the-art treatments.

“As a foundation born out of Silicon Valley, we are COMMITTED to making the Bay Area a healthy place for kids to grow up, as well as an innovator in pediatric medicine. That vision is at the heart of the Hospital’s expansion, and we are proud to help make it possible,” said Carol Larson, president of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

The new expansion will allow Packard to continue to provide COMPASSIONATE CARE and sustain its mission – to provide the community’s children access to the most advanced cures, treatments, and technologies, performed by the best minds in pediatric medicine, within a family-centered environment. “My mother would be incredibly proud of the growth we’ve seen at the Children’s Hospital,” says Susan Packard Orr, chair of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Christopher Dawes, president and CEO of Packard Children’s, stated, “With our new facility on the horizon, we look forward to providing even more children and families with access to the best in clinical care, education and research. This would not be possible without the ongoing support of our philanthropic community.”

For more information about how the expansion and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, click here.

As she moves confidently through the hallways of Stanford Hospital & Clinics, Rita’s official badge swings back and forth with each step. There’s no MD after her name, but her skills as a healer could justify it. When Rita pays a visit to a patient, the atmosphere instantly brightens.

Rita’s owner and handler, Robert Higa, said “when you see the connection dogs can make. It’s so easy and effortless. You can really see the change you can bring about with a dog.”

Stanford Hospital & Clinics has been MAKING A DIFFERENCE in the lives of patients for more than a decade with Pet-Assisted Wellness at Stanford (PAWS) Program. During their weekly visits, dogs, cats and sometimes rabbits have padded their way into the hearts of patients and staff alike providing COMPASSIONATE CARE.

The program, said Barbara Ralston, the hospital’s vice president for guest services and international medicine, makes an important contribution toward “getting patients well and out of the hospital. It helps normalize their experience. People who have pets really miss their pets. We can’t let their pets in, but we have surrogates for them.”

For more information about the PAWS Program and to read about patient stories, click here.

At six months old and just ten pounds Ila Chakravarthy received a liver transplant at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, home of the busiest pediatric liver transplant team in the nation.

“We’re known for taking care of very small children, transplanting much sicker patients, and treating more kids with cancer than any other institution in the country,” said surgeon Carlos Esquivel, MD, PhD, chief of the division of transplantation.

The hospital’s team not only MADE A DIFFERENCE in Ila’s life in 2008, but they performed more liver transplants than any other U.S. children’s hospital, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Their sheer COMMITMENT to surgeries in infants like Ila, shows how doctors, hepatologists, nephrologists, gastroenterologists, anesthesiologists, physician assistants, social workers and nurses, provide BETTER MEDICINE to help patients thrive and grow after their transplant.

For more information about the liver transplant team and Ila’s story, click here.