Kids Health Matters
Archive: May, 2016

The Feyereisen family built a sandlot field in their backyard to inspire inclusiveness and teach kindness among their triplet sons, who have varying degrees of disabilities, and their friends. It's come to resemble a real-life "Field of Dreams."

Gaelynn Lea, a musician from Duluth, Minnesota, recently won National Public Radio's distinguished Tiny Desk Contest. She also has osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). Learn more about Lea, what brought her to Gillette as a teenager, and her advice for children living with OI.

Greta Cunningham, content specialist, enjoys interviewing patients, families and clinical staff to share the work being done at Gillette. She's a former broadcaster at Minnesota Public Radio and feels her background as a journalist and mom helps her craft her stories.

At Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, we understand that choosing a fellowship program is a difficult and important decision. So, we sat down with two of our current Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine fellows to talk about how they made their decision, why they ultimately chose Gillette, and having been here, what they think now?

Even after an injury heals, sometimes an imprint of it can remain. How this happens varies from person to person. But for some individuals, like Ali Tokkesdal, it manifests in the form of chronic pain. “I couldn’t walk. It felt like my body had turned against me, like it was haunted,” says Ali.

When people think of sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, images of middle aged adults likely come to mind. However, a recent study by Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare sheds light on another population of people who are affected by the disorder: children who have cerebral palsy.

Learn how a nurse-led initiative called family-centered rounding is improving communication between providers, nurses and families.

A young mother, overwhelmed with caring for her newborn son who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, meets a pediatric intensive care nurse in the hallways of Gillette in 2006. The friendship they develop changes both of their lives. To celebrate National Nurses Week, we asked Lucinda VerSteeg and Elee Hruza to reflect on their nursing careers and relationship.

As we continue celebrating Nurses Week 2016, here's a look at how Gillette nurses are finding new ways to help families understand and manage their children's medications, both inside and outside the hospital.

The power of smiles to heal and inspire is what prompted nurses on Gillette's Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit to create a new music video highlighting the spirit and resilience of their patients. Watch the video and learn how it came together.