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Bent, Not Broken: Lindsay’s Story When she was 12 years old, Lindsay Fritz wrote a letter to her future self. “Don’t worry, you got this,” she wrote. “You are bent, not broken.” The year before, a routine physical had revealed a curve in her spine, and she’d been referred to Connecticut Children’s for X-rays. The
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Connecticut Children’s Chief Nursing Officer Named to Becker’s “Chief Nursing Officers To Know” List Media Contact: Monica Buchanan, Senior Director, Strategic Communications Connecticut Children’s 352-219-0860 Hartford, CT — September 21, 2023 — Connecticut Children’s is proud to announce that Sarah Matney, MSOL, BSN, RN, CPON, CENP, Senior Vice President, Clinical Services Article
Grow Brave: Kelly’s Remarkable Recovery From a Rare Bone Cancer It started like every other family dinner. Kelly sat around the table with her parents, grandparents, and two older siblings. They each talked about their days. Kelly, who was 10 at the time, mentioned that she felt an odd pain in her left leg. Her parents assumed it was growing
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Time to Rethink Our Sugary Drinks By Nancy Trout, MD: By: Nancy Trout, MD, MPH Sugar sweetened beverages, including sodas, fruit drinks, sport drinks, energy drinks, and sweetened coffees and teas are contributing to an undue level of poor health. Sugary drinks account for approximately 36% of added sugar in the American diet
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Addressing Community Needs to Promote Well-Being As we celebrate 25 years of service to children and families in 2021, Connecticut Children’s proudly continues our long-standing commitment to strengthening families to promote optimal child health, development, and well-being. In addition to providing high quality clinical
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Making it Safe for All By Scott Orsey: By: Scott Orsey Change is hard, especially where structure creates imbalance in perspectives, power and impact. When years of good intentions yield underwhelming results, it is time to question the approach. In this four-part blog series, Scott Orsey explores the model used by
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What’s Next? Helping Your Teen Decide What to Do After High School By Lauren K. Ayr-Volta, PhD: For most of their lives, kids and teens are told exactly where they’ll be and what they’ll be doing in the year to come. Their teachers and families prepare them for the transition from one grade to the next, and for the move from elementary to middle to high school. Then, at the
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Determinants of X By Scott Orsey: By: Scott Orsey Change is hard, especially where structure creates imbalance in perspectives, power and impact. When years of good intentions yield underwhelming results related to health and well-being outcomes, it is time to question the approach. In this four-part blog series
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Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Declaration By Larry Milan: By: Larry Milan Enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion at Connecticut Children’s is a key strategic priority for our organization. We welcome the opportunity to build on our strong foundation to ensure a culture that is welcoming and inclusive for all team members, patient
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Building for Health: Peace of Mind The Quintero family of Manchester, Connecticut is breathing much easier these days after the Building for Health initiative fixed hazards in their home and provided support for their daughter’s worsening asthma symptoms. Building for Health launched in 2019 to increase
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Care Coordination: Empowering Families to Support Kids Ashley Burkman and her husband, Matt Chella, were thrilled to welcome their sons Calvin and Carter into the world in May 2019. The pregnancy showed no signs of anything abnormal for the twins. However, shortly after the boys’ birth at 38 weeks, Carter’s parents and doctors became
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Food is Medicine: The Essential Connection Between Food Security and Health By Nancy Trout, MD: By: Nancy Trout, MD, MPH For more than two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought devastating loss along with political, economic and social disruption to our nation. While we no longer see televised images of snaking lines of cars containing food insecure families lined up for
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Prioritizing Consistent Sleep To Support Mental Health By Alyssa Nycz, MD: By: Alyssa Nycz, MD The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommends that children ages 6 to 12 receive between nine and 12 hours of sleep during a 24-hour period. Teenagers should regularly sleep eight to 10 hours per night. However, research finds that at least one
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Mental Health Crisis: We Must Address Root Causes While mental health providers, policymakers and parents scramble to handle the escalating mental health crisis in children and youth, we must address the root causes through long-overdue systems-level changes in order to make an impact. That’s the message Paul H. Dworkin, MD
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Mentoring Program Fosters Career Development By Luis Rivera: By: Luis Rivera As part of Connecticut Children’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, we are launching a new mentoring program as a pilot program to ensure team members who reside in Hartford have the support they need to succeed in their positions and advance their