Patient Stories
Camp Journey and a horse named Evan build Luca’s confidence
Until this summer, 8-year-old Luca Castellano had never been on a horse. But after participating in Camp Journey, a therapeutic riding camp for kids with congenital heart conditions, he was riding and caring for a horse like a pro. “Luca pretty much fell in love with a horse named Evan,” says his mom, Rebecca. Camp ... Read More about Camp Journey and a horse named Evan build Luca’s confidence
Our Community
Staff Spotlight: Meet Andrea Lerude
Andrea Lerude is a certified child life specialist on the inpatient neuroscience floor at Boston Children’s Hospital. She’s worked at Boston Children’s for more than five years. What does your job involve? As a child life specialist, I provide developmentally appropriate coping support to children in the hospital, in the form of play. Basically, I ... Read More about Staff Spotlight: Meet Andrea Lerude
Research
‘Face blindness’ may represent a failed brain network — and could shed light on autism
People with prosopagnosia, or “face blindness,” have trouble recognizing faces — even those of close friends and family members. While some people can compensate by using clothing and other cues, face blindness often creates serious social problems. It often becomes apparent in early childhood, but, rarely, people can acquire face blindness later in life after ... Read More about ‘Face blindness’ may represent a failed brain network — and could shed light on autism
Research
Healing hearts under a watchful eye
Cardiac surgery is performed using visual landmarks inside the heart. There are specialized conduction tissues that run underneath the surface, which are important for the heart’s rhythmic beating. Cardiac surgeons operate with these landmarks in mind to avoid injury to conduction tissue, but locating these tissues can be challenging. Fiberoptic confocal microscopy technology inside the ... Read More about Healing hearts under a watchful eye
Health and Parenting
When to call the doctor about your child’s cough
Come winter, it’s difficult to escape the cacophony of hacking and throat-clearing that accompanies the common cold. Fortunately, most coughs are associated with self-limiting respiratory infections and will clear up on their own with time. But how do you know when a cough is worrisome — and when it’s time to call your pediatrician? We ... Read More about When to call the doctor about your child’s cough
Our Community
Staff spotlight: Meet genetic counselor Beth Rosen Sheidley
In honor of Genetic Counselor Awareness Day, we sat down with Beth Rosen Sheidley, MS, CGC, co-director of the Epilepsy Genetics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, to learn about the field and practice of genetic counseling. What is the role of a genetic counselor? There are about 30 genetic counselors at Boston Children’s across many different departments and ... Read More about Staff spotlight: Meet genetic counselor Beth Rosen Sheidley
Clinical Care
Natural language processing captures new insights on patient safety
Safety monitoring at Boston Children’s Hospital is getting even more thorough, thanks to natural language processing systems. Aided by machine-learning algorithms, these systems are capturing problems that clinicians didn’t explicitly flag through a safety reporting system, but documented in their notes. The net result is further opportunities to improve care. Natural language processing, or NLP, ... Read More about Natural language processing captures new insights on patient safety
Research
Diet trials often amend their outcome measures as they go
Ever wonder why science can’t settle simple diet-related questions? In part it’s because most clinical trials involving diet, even those published in good journals, lack the rigor of most drug trials. They’re often small, of short duration, and unable to rigorously control subjects’ adherence to the test diets. Moreover, a study published today in JAMA ... Read More about Diet trials often amend their outcome measures as they go
Our Community
Kindness rocks: Connecting to each other and to home
“I’m proud of you.” “You’re so strong.” “Keep your sunny side up! “ These are some of the messages painted on rocks in the ninth-floor resource room at Boston Children’s Hospital. The idea to paint rocks started last spring with two “bored mamas,” says Shari Mendler, who runs the resource room for parents and caregivers ... Read More about Kindness rocks: Connecting to each other and to home
Patient Stories
Violet is blossoming five years after Tessier cleft surgery
In October 2014, Violet and her parents traveled from their home in rural Oregon to Boston Children’s Hospital for a life-changing surgery. Violet, who was born with an extremely rare and serious craniofacial anomaly, called a Tessier cleft, needed an operation to close the gap in her facial bones. After nine hours in the surgical ... Read More about Violet is blossoming five years after Tessier cleft surgery