Kids Health Matters
Topic: Research and Innovation

All babies born in Minnesota are now being screened for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) unless their parents opt out of the newborn screening, the Minnesota Department of Health recently announced. SMA is the leading genetic cause of early childhood death in the United States.

The hospital can be a scary place for anyone, especially a child, and no matter how nice the staff is or how thoughtfully the clinical spaces are designed, it’s usually difficult for a patient to forget they’re in one. At Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, that’s no longer the case.

“I don’t think it would surprise anyone to learn that a lot of children love dogs,” says Emily DeBreto. “While we’ve had volunteers bring in therapeutic dogs at the hospital for comfort, we wanted to get our dogs more involved with the actual functional aspects of the therapy we’re providing.”

During his more than 15-year tenure at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, craniofacial and plastic surgeon Robert Wood, MD, has treated more than 1,800 patients who have craniosynostosis, a condition that occurs when one or more of the joints in a baby’s skull closes too early.

Anna Hendricksen held her breath and spent hours in suspended hope as pediatric neurologist Randal Richardson, MD, and his team assessed her daughter, Annika, to determine if she met the criteria to participate in the clinical trial for Spinraza ™, also called nusinersen, a drug to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

Pain affects all aspects of life, but for many of us, it’s an abstract concept. But, for a moment, imagine what it would feel like to experience chronic pain for an entire month. Start with that, but now expand it out to a year—or maybe even, every day of your life.

Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare is playing a key role in the clinical trials and research into the drug Spinraza, also called nusinersen.The drug is being celebrated as the first real hope for people who have spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

Many children and teens who have disabilities require assistive technology services to help manage their conditions. Bradley Fisher, manager in the Assistive Technology Department at Gillette explains the process for creating assistive devices such as braces, limbs and CranioCaps during a Facebook LIVE tour.

A Phase II study (NNZ-2566) of a drug called Trofinetide has potential to minimize the symptoms of Rett syndrome. Learn more and meet one family who is dedicated to moving Rett syndrome research forward.

Meet HAL. He has a pulse; he breathes, blinks, and speaks numerous languages. If need be, he bleeds. This will likely be one of the stranger things you read today.

Gillette recently hosted a Facebook Live video Q&A featuring John Garcia, MD, sleep medicine specialist, about back-to-school sleep issues. Learn more and watch the discussion.

A significant portion of children who have chronic care conditions – many of whom are already on numerous medications – might benefit from the low-risk and non-toxic benefits of acupuncture.

Amanda Morcomb’s twins, Teagan and Orion, were diagnosed with plagiocephaly, or flat head syndrome, at 5 months old. Learn how the Gillette CranioCap® orthosis helped successfully round the babies’ heads—and why 3D printing means babies can begin wearing their helmets sooner.

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

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.

“When I was a kid in the hospital, the nurses and registration staff remembered my name when I’d do my check-ups, and that always made me feel welcome. It’s incredible to think that now I’m on the other side of the desk recognizing families by name…it’s come full circle.” –Ed Jenkins

A prestigious NIH grant is helping Gillette's gait and motion analysis research team improve treatment outcomes. “This grant allows us to open up new and exciting avenues of work” says Michael Schwartz, director of bioengineering research at Gillette.

Julie Hackel's 19-year-old daughter, Megan, has Rett Syndrome. Discover why Rett Syndrome research is so important to Hackel, and how Gillette clinicians are working to move Rett knowledge forward.