Children's Hospital Colorado

As a respiratory therapist, Meliza has seen firsthand the impact she can have on patients and families. Now, as a clinical manager and a leader in our Pediatric Respiratory Therapy Fellowship, she’s making an impact on our team members by helping fellow respiratory therapists gain the skills and training they need to feel confident caring for kids. For Meliza, moving from direct patient care to a leadership role has been a full-circle moment. And she wouldn’t want to do it anywhere else. “Here, it’s different. It’s fun. It’s engaging,” Meliza says. "And if at the end of the day, we did something right to help our patients get home and get better, that’s awesome.” If you’re a respiratory therapist who is passionate about working with kids, there’s a place for you at Children’s Colorado. Learn more about how we can help you transition to pediatric practice: https://lnkd.in/g-8D_JfG

We all know someone who is affected by the youth mental health crisis. Fortunately, we can all do something to help. From fundraising to attending events to advocating your legislators to simply sharing our experts’ advice, there’s something for everyone. #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth

Congratulations to Suzy Jaeger, who was named one of the top chief experience officers by Becker’s Healthcare. Learn about her role at Children’s Colorado.

We are starting our week at the Colorado Respiratory Care Society State Conference! Stop by our booth to talk to our team about what it's like to be a pediatric respiratory therapist at Children's Colorado. Learn more about our career opportunities: https://bit.ly/3DXgG4E #RespiratoryTherapist #PediatricHealthcare

Each year, Meg fractures between 15 and 20 bones. Not because she’s into exhilarating sports or dangerous hobbies, but because she has a genetic condition. Doctors diagnosed Meg before birth with osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, which makes her bones softer and easily fractured. During her pregnancy, doctors told Meg’s mom Leslie that Meg wouldn’t be born alive. But against all odds, Meg was born with nine broken bones and a fiery personality to take on the world. After a 12-day NICU stay, Meg established care with our experts and started bone infusions at 2 months old. Since then, she’s had 13 surgeries to put rods in her arms and legs that work as internal splints as she grows. “All of our friends have second homes in the mountains, and we have one in Aurora,” Leslie jokes. Meg’s bones are still very fragile, so she receives regular care from her pediatrician, one of our geneticists, Dr. Ellen Roy Elias, and other experts across our departments “Meg is an incredibly bright, talented and feisty 6th grader who has never let anything hold her back, despite her complex medical issues,” says Dr. Elias. “She is the perfect example of how impossible it is to predict the future in babies born with osteogenesis imperfecta. Her parents’ wish was for her to always attempt activities to allow her to have as normal a childhood as possible and to clearly make decisions supporting her happiness and quality of life.” And Meg is no stranger to our emergency department, especially since the smallest movement could result in a break. Last summer alone, Meg broke seven bones. But that didn’t stop her from participating in nearly every sport at her wheelchair sports camp. Regardless of her diagnosis, Meg doesn’t let anything hold her back. Now as a bustling sixth grader, Meg is a vocal major at Denver School of the Arts and once sang the national anthem at a Denver Nuggets game. This Wishbone Day, which raises awareness for osteogenesis imperfecta, Meg wants kids like her to know that your condition doesn’t limit your potential to shine. “Don't give up on what you want to do,” says Meg. “It may be hard, it may be scary, people may not believe in you, but you just can’t give up.”

Jonnie faced a lot early in his life — a heart murmur, multiple aneurysms and a heart condition that caused a hole in his heart. He had surgery to fix the hole in his heart, but optimal health still eluded him. “We didn’t understand why he was facing all these challenges,” says Drew, Jonnie’s dad. After a couple years of missing growth and health milestones, someone suggested genetic testing for Jonnie. Suddenly, everything made a lot more sense. Genetic testing revealed that Jonnie had multisystem smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome (MSMDS), an extremely rare disease that only about 50 people in the world have. Geneticists told Drew and Rachael that they should go see Dr. Kathyrn Chatfield at Children’s Hospital Colorado immediately. Dr. Chatfield is a genetic pediatric cardiologist and has treated all the cases of MSMDS that have come to Children’s Colorado. “It changed our life and it changed Jonnie’s life,” says Rachael, Jonnie’s mom. In working with Dr. Chatfield, who Rachael and Drew call, “The Queen,” they no longer guess about which care will help Jonnie. Now, they can proactively plan for his treatment — and the rest of his life.

Nearly 25% of Hispanic and Latinx families visiting Children’s Colorado say Spanish is their first language. SCORE fellows Shannon Acker, MD, and Jose Diaz-Miron, MD, are researching projects that could make it easier to share important health information with people who speak languages other than English. Learn how their work is improving health equity and outcomes for these populations: https://bit.ly/3TSFQdp

There's an increasing number of women who have become pregnant after being on weight loss drugs. Could there be a correlation? Dr. Melanie Cree, Director of the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Clinic and national expert on PCOS research, shares her thoughts on why some physicians are turning to the drugs to treat PCOS, one of the leading causes of infertility in the U.S.

Is it possible to predict a patient’s ACL reconstruction recovery success based on their grit level? And what exactly is grit? Explore what our researchers uncovered about a patient’s grit level before and after operation: https://bit.ly/3vrYQpM

We’re thrilled to announce that Children’s Colorado earned a spot on Becker’s list of 150+ top places to work in healthcare. From robust benefits packages to professional and personal development opportunities, dive into what sets us apart.