CONTENTS
It starts with a
A letter from a fellow questioner at
Children’s Hospital Colorado
More than 40 years ago, my colleague David Olds, PhD, had a vision, unconventional
at the time. A psychologist working in childhood development, he wondered if a
simple intervention early in life could influence outcomes down the line.
That vision grew into the Nurse Family Partnership, a nationwide program
that connects nurses with underprivileged first-time mothers starting early in
their pregnancy. Now adults, patients who received this brief intervention have
experienced better outcomes across their lives than peers who didn’t.
As a pediatric cardiologist, I’ve focused my clinical work on cardiovascular
health in childhood and how it impacts the risk of heart disease and strokes
later in life. It’s a particularly difficult problem in disadvantaged families. I’ve
followed Dr. Olds’ work with interest and wondered if the NFP’s intervention
might affect dietary choices and physical activity, as well — variables that would
affect risk factors for obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Olds is now a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine,
which shares a campus with Children’s Hospital Colorado. Our common interest
led to discussions, which led to a National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
Symposium and, ultimately, to a collaborative grant to study cardiovascular
outcomes in NFP participants. Today, we’re looking forward to the answers that
analyzing these novel data will provide.
I’ve been thinking about that work lately, as hospitals all over the nation
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic: How relatively small interventions can
resonate throughout kids’ lives. For some of us, it’s the reason we choose to
spend our lives in pediatrics. To know that what we do can have a real impact.
It makes me wonder how these strange and unprecedented times will influence
kids today, how these experiences might alter the course of their lives. And it
makes me wonder how we’re doing, as a pediatric community, to mitigate that
course. Where we can innovate, intervene, and strive to do better.
As a clinician, I’ve been proud of the agility I’ve seen from Children’s Hospital
Colorado. We foresaw the need for widespread COVID-19 testing early and were
the first hospital system in Colorado to get a testing infrastructure in place. Our
Blood Donor Center was the first in the state to collect convalescent plasma.
Contents
COVID-19
NEWS
3
Path to
Convalescence
4
Put to the Test
6
The Forefront of
Telehealth
FEATURES
8
CARDIOLOGY
A Model Lab
BRIEFS
12
CANCER
No Time to Waste
14
ORTHOPEDICS
Reconstructing the
Standard of Care
15
CANCER
Propensity for
Intensity
16
NEPHROLOGY
Double or Nothing
18
UROLOGY
Rare Forms
SHORT
ANSWER
12
ORTHOPEDICS
Innovation in
Education
16
CARDIOLOGY
4 Studies in
Cath Lab 3D
Echocardiology
ACCOLADES
19
A(:) List
You’ll find those stories in this magazine, along with many more that have little
to do with COVID-19. Kids need us, and they will long after our current challenge
is replaced with new ones, challenges we’ve yet to fathom.
We’ll need to be ready for them when they come. Our work continues.
STEVE DANIELS, MD, PhD
Pediatrician-in-Chief
For a digital version of
this publication visit:
childrenscolorado.org/Qmagazine
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