Our Little Artists

Dorron, 10 years old, from St. Vincent is here for Eye Surgery.

 

Zoe, 8 years old, from Belize is here for Orthopedic Surgery.

Joshua, 2 years old, from Belize received Urological Surgery.

IHC families see snow for the first time!

 When asked if he had ever seen snow before, 10-year-old Dorron smiled shyly and shook his head no. “Maybe I’ll get to build snowman,” he said.

Dorron got to do much more than build a snowman this weekend! IHC Board member Jeff Gallagher took Dorron and Dorron’s mother, along with new IHC arrivals Chantelle and her mother, to Maymont for a fun afternoon of sledding. Dorron is in Richmond recovering from eye surgery and Chantelle will be undergoing surgery to replace a defective heart valve. The weather this weekend was certainly a change for the families who traveled from St. Vincent and Jamaica to receive critical pediatric care inaccessible to them without IHC’s help. What a memorable weekend for Dorron and Chantelle!

Meet IHC Patient Care Coordinator & Database Manager, Emily Robertson

Name:  Emily Robertson

Hometown:  Richmond, Virginia

Occupation:  Patient Care Coordinator and Database Manager, International Hospital for Children

Personal Details: I have lived in Richmond (actually Henrico County) since birth, and learned about service to others primarily through the examples my parents set, as they both chose to be public servants for their careers.  My father worked as a research librarian in Henrico County’s public library system for 30 years and my mother spent most of her career as a public school teacher in Henrico County, teaching at-risk elementary school-aged children.  I’m also incredibly proud of my younger brother, who is enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and stationed in Massachusetts. I’m blessed to have an amazing husband, Ashley, whom I married in October, 2009.

Hobbies of mine include involvement with children’s programs and small drama presentations at my church.  I also love to take dance classes when I have time, and have always had an interest in traveling, learning new languages and experiencing new cultures. I graduated from the University of Virginia in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish.  Before joining IHC’s team, I taught English as a Second Language to children at the elementary level in Henrico County.

What is your primary role at IHC? Most of my time at IHC is dedicated to patient case management for the We Bring program.  My focus is on seeing each family through the steps of the child’s surgical treatment.  This means that I meet with families upon arrival in Richmond to provide orientation, keep track of how the child’s treatment is progressing; communicate with the patient’s physicians regarding next steps for the patient and liaise with the patient’s family to ensure that the patient’s treatment plan is understood; seek out home health resources and keep track of necessary medication refills, as well as attend patient appointments as necessary; and finally prepare families to return to their home countries, which includes both confirming/organizing travel arrangements and confirming arrangements in a patient’s home country for necessary follow up care.  I do all these tasks in partnership with the We Bring Program Manager and Volunteer Coordinator.  I also manage IHC’s patient database, where data for all IHC patients for both the We Send and We Bring programs is housed.  I oversee the process of data entry for all patients treated through IHC’s programs and proof data entry for quality control.  I also produce needed reports for both programs from the database.  These reports include pre and post mission patient lists and final indicator reports.

What do you enjoy most about working for IHC? I have the privilege of working with IHC patients and their families on a daily basis, and for that reason I feel incredibly fortunate to have my position at IHC.  Working with IHC patients in the capacity of patient care coordinator gives me the opportunity to learn IHC patients’ stories and experiences firsthand and be a guide to them as they go through the experience of surgery and hospitalization.  My work is always challenging, always changing, and always fulfilling.  Apart from that, I truly enjoy managing the patient database because I’m glad to be so involved in managing and working with a tool that greatly contributes to both the efficiency and quality of patient care offered through IHC’s programs.

What do you think everyone should know about IHC? Everyone should know that the common values of responsibility, accountability, hard work and passion are what drive each IHC staff person to contribute above and beyond for the benefit of the children IHC seeks to serve.   Apart from this, IHC is unique because of its emphasis on creating sustainable programs to provide a lasting, positive impact on the communities in which IHC works.  I am proud to work for an organization that is adamant about creating programs that have lasting results, as well as about conducting itself in the most professional and transparent way possible, gaining the trust of other non-governmental organizations, both in the U.S. and in IHC’s partner countries, as well as gaining the trust of physicians, their patients and their families.

Memorable experiences about working at IHC: During my experience as a team leader for the 2009 IHC orthopedic mission to Guatemala, led by Dr. Marc Cardelia, the parent of one of the patients receiving surgery wrote a letter to me expressing how she felt about the surgery her daughter received that week for her foot.  One comment this mother wrote in her letter has stayed with me since meeting the family, “Gracias por preocuparse de personas pobres.”  If I translated this phrase to make sense and also flow nicely in English, I would say, “Thank you for caring about the poor.”  But the verb in Spanish that this mother chose to use, when translated literally, means “to worry” or “to worry oneself.”

Thinking about the translation of this verb, I understood that our team must have reflected genuine care and concern to this mother for her daughter’s wellbeing, which meant the world to her.  The team didn’t just “think about” or “consider” her daughter’s medical need.  The team in fact “worried about” her medical need and provided a solution.  This is just one example of the beautiful words of thanks that IHC physicians, staff, interns and volunteers hear on a regular basis – words so eloquent and so carefully chosen, spoken or written as a gift in return for the care that was given to children in need.  I keep that letter pinned to my office bulletin board as a reminder of how IHC’s work contributes to the health and joy of others in need.

IHC Arranges For Supplies to Be Sent to Haiti

            “IHC does not work in Haiti, so we have been keeping our eyes and ears open as to how we can best assist in the crisis,” said Susan Rickman, President of IHC. “We reached out to our Dominican hospital partners and found an opportunity that gives me great confidence that our efforts will reach the right people.”

            According to CNN.com, large quantities of relief supplies are sitting on the tarmac and in warehouses in Haiti, yet no one is moving them to the people that so desperately need them. Through partners in the Dominican Republic, IHC has arranged for supplies to be sent to St. Damien’s Hospital, one of the few working hospitals helping the massive patient load. IHC has been provided with a list of basic medical supplies that are greatly needed and has reached out to partner Owens and Minor to donate these supplies. In addition, Estes Express has generously agreed to assist with delivery of the supplies.

             “I truly think we have found a way to assist the Haitian people. I am confident the supplies we send will not sit on a tarmac, waiting for days for distribution,” said Susan. “I am grateful to all IHC supporters for being part of everything we do as we attempt – within our resources, expertise and mission – to help relieve the suffering of children with critical care needs.”

IHC Partners With Owens & Minor

Owens and Minor is an industry leader in the provision of surgical supply products and a world-class provider of supply chain management solutions.  Based in Richmond, VA, Owens and Minor (OM) began working with IHC in September of 2008 through donation of surgical supplies to IHC’s annual pediatric surgery missions. This past July (2009), however, marked the formalization of our partnership, and while OM’s original agreement was to provide regular product donation for our teams, their generosity has extended far beyond that and what we’d dreamed to envision. 

Thanks to the generous leadership of Khaki Weber, OM’s director of supplier relations and product development, and Nick Ciucci, the company is making four very significant quarterly donations of surgical product to IHC’s teams.  OM’s own MediChoice products as well as other OM-distributed supplies equip IHC’s pediatric surgeons with their preferred products.  OM’s donation of supplies each time translates into monies saved for IHC to send their much-needed teams abroad; even more importantly, their donation means IHC teams can provide our international children with the same high quality level of care we provide our kids in the US.  IHC is proud to stand firm in this high standard of care and OM is an integral part of our capacity to do so.

 This year OM products will outfit 24 different IHC surgeons and their teams to provide critical care services to an expected 900 kids who otherwise would not have access to that level of expert care.  Of those, 300 will receive critically needed surgery.  And of those, 100 lives will be saved through pediatric cardiac surgery or neurosurgery.

But beyond providing the tools necessary to improve children’s lives now, OM is building IHC’s long-term capacity, just as we remain dedicated to building the local sustainability of our partners internationally.  In addition to their considerable donation of products for use in the operating room, OM team members Corky Biller, manager of logistics and operations, and Greg Clack, regional director of transportation, have grown IHC’s capacity for efficiently and effectively managing the thousands of pounds of surgical supplies we pack and ship for our teams year-round.  Corky and Greg have spent several full days at the IHC office fully stocking IHC’s two supply rooms with donated shelving and bins that we use to house our supplies on site.  For the first time, IHC is equipped with the organized space that gives us the full capacity we need to handle the requests we receive for help.  Additionally, Greg has built a custom-designed electronic database that newly gives IHC the means to track needed supplies well in advance and to accurately manage our inventory of high-demand products as teams travel and return home.  OM hasn’t stopped here but has also gifted IHC with 30 sturdy rolling duffle bags that travel month after month with our teams to keep our supplies in good condition.

OM is dedicated to their team members’ community involvement and deserves great recognition for their partnership with IHC and the children we serve.  Employees at both organizations agree it’s astounding to see the results that are possible through an organized effort.  For IHC and OM, those results mean children’s lives that are completely changed forever!   

 - Lauren Davis, IHC We Send Program Manager