PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY
Pediatric neurologists treat disease, injury, and disorders of the brain, nerves, and spinal cord.
An expanded recruitment effort for additional pediatric neurologists at Scott & White is under
way to care for infants and children with a range of neurological conditions.
» Nate Wichers AGE 3
Jenni and Army Staff Sergeant Jonathan Wichers, now have two reasons to celebrate:
the health of their son and Sergeant Wichers’ safe return from Iraq
ast April, Jenni
Wichers, of Crockett,
Texas, and her family
gathered at her parents’ home
nearby to celebrate. Her
husband, Jonathan, had
returned from a yearlong
deployment in Iraq the day
before. While eating lunch,
the Wichers realized their
three-year-old son, Nate,
was not at the table.
“We looked up, and I
said, ‘Where’s Nate?’” Mrs.
Wichers recalls.
Minutes later, her husband
found Nate at the bottom of
the family pool. The father
dove in, pulled the boy out, and
immediately began giving him
CPR. Nate was breathing again
but remained unconscious
when the helicopter arrived
for the flight to Scott & White
in Temple.
When the helicopter touched
down on Scott & White’s rooftop
helipad, “a whole team of people
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THE CATALYST Fall 10 | sw.org
met us,” Mrs. Wichers says.
Doctors rushed Nate to the
Emergency Department, and
a chaplain and nurse sat down
with Mrs. Wichers to explain
what the physicians would do
to save Nate’s life.
The greatest fear in neardrowning cases is neural
damage caused by lack of
oxygen to the brain. After being
stabilized in the ER, Nate was
transferred to the pediatric
intensive care unit. Doctors
placed him on a respirator and
kept him sedated for the next
36 hours so that his brain would
rest as his body recovered.
When Nate regained
consciousness, mother and
child were reunited. “Doctors
immediately put him in my
arms because they knew that
would comfort him,” Mrs.
Wichers says.
Nate awoke with no signs
of trauma to the brain. He was
released after three more days
of tests and observation. Nate,
who does not remember the
accident, was eager to go
swimming again weeks later.
“He is back to his old self,”
his mother says.
Mrs. Wichers praises the
emergency physicians and
pediatric neurologists who
saved Nate’s life. She also
is grateful to the team who
tended to the family’s emotional
needs. “All the nursing staff
and doctors were wonderful,
very informative, and real.
They thoroughly answered our
questions. And they were quiet
when they could tell we didn’t
want to talk.”
That level of sensitivity
helped the Wichers family get
through several harrowing
days, Mrs. Wichers says. “We
were really impressed with
the hospital system, and what
the whole staff did for us.” ★
“All the nursing staff and
doctors were wonderful,
very informative,
and real.”
—Jenni Wichers