Children's Hospital & Medical Center
In April, the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine received formal fellowship program approval from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The three-year fellowship program is accredited for three total fellows, ideally one per year, and Children’s anticipates the first fellow to start on July 1, 2022.
Camille Hancock Friesen, M.D., Cardiothoracic Surgery
Dr. Hancock Friesen received her medical degree from the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where she also completed a General Surgery residency. Dr. Hancock Friesen completed a Cardiac Surgery residency at Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a Congenital Cardiac Surgery fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston. She is a professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UNMC College of Medicine.
Angela Hanna, M.D., Pediatric Surgery
Dr. Hanna received her medical degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City. She completed a Surgery residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Dr. Hanna completed a Surgical Critical Care fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and a Pediatric Surgery fellowship at Cohen Children’s/Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Hyde Park, N.Y. She is an assistant professor of Pediatric Surgery at UNMC College of Medicine.
On Wednesday, May 26, Children’s will offer “Breastfeeding in 2021” from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. online via Zoom. Our guest speaker for this event is Erin A. Loucks, M.D., Children’s Physicians, Dundee Flats, and assistant clinical professor of Pediatrics with Creighton University School of Medicine.
This will be the second offering of the 2021 Art & Science of Breastfeeding series, which offers several different lactation-focused topics throughout the year. The target audience includes lactation consultants, lactation counselors, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physicians and other health care providers. This event is open to internal and external audiences. CME and CNE credits are available. Application for Continuing Education Recognition Points (CERPS) will be submitted to the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.
View the flyer and register here. Select “Continuing Education”, then Select “Live Online Activities” and scroll to the event.
· Cost is free (with use of discount code CHMC21 at time of registration) for Children’s employees, $10 all others.
· Viewing is via Zoom only.
· The Zoom link will be emailed by Friday, May 21 to those who pre-register.
· Registration deadline: May 25 at noon.
· Cancellations received in writing by May 25 may be refunded.
For more information, contact: Rebecca Jenkins (CNE) or Sara Olsen (CME).
As we learned in Conflict Management training, the Universal Greeting is the first step in beginning an interaction with a patient, family member or colleague. Key steps include:
1. Appropriate greeting – “Hello, I am Dr. Jones.”
2. Name and affiliation – “I am a provider in Children’s Emergency Department.”
3. Reason for contact – “I am here to examine your arm and figure out next steps.”
4. Relevant question – “How did you fall off the bike and injure your arm?”
As a provider, you are in a position in which you can inspire utilization of this skills with your teams and colleagues. Ideas for how you can promote the Universal Greeting to enhance outcomes include:
For more resources regarding Children’s Conflict Management Program, providers with access to Children’s intranet can visit the Workplace Violence Webpage on My Children’s.
Children’s Hospital & Medical Center’s 2021 OneTeam Giving campaign recognizes our teamwork and commitment to Children’s, and it highlights the many ways we Share the Love with the children and families we serve and with each other.
All Children’s staff are invited to participate. It’s voluntary, confidential and an individual decision. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
When you give to the OneTeam Giving campaign, you have the opportunity to direct your gift to where it is most needed in support of Children’s mission or to an area that is important to you.
Our goal: $200,000. Those who choose to make a pledge or gift will receive:
Log-in information and a password will be sent to you by email. Contributions to the 2021 OneTeam Giving Campaign are welcome through Friday, June 25, 2021.
“Share the Love” T-shirts with either the Children’s Hospital & Medical Center logo or Children’s Physicians logo are available to order through Friday, May 28, here.
Watch for your OneTeam Giving email and Share the Love!
Thank you to the generous team members who volunteered to serve at this past Saturday’s COVID-19 community vaccine clinic at NorthStar Foundation. Because of you, we were able to vaccinate many individuals in our community–including young people ages 16 and older–and help better protect our community against COVID-19. The effort was a partnership between Children’s, NorthStar Foundation and the Douglas County Health Department. A special shout-out goes to Sharon Stoolman, M.D., Pediatric Hospital Medicine, for her leadership, vision, hard work and above-and-beyond advocacy in making the event a reality! Click the links below for a sample of the media coverage:
Samiksha Fouzdar Jain, M.D., Pediatric Ophthalmology, shared tips with WOWT on how parents can protect children’s vision from increased screen time because of the pandemic. Our team helps parents navigate ways to reduce eye strain and maintain a healthy balance.
Children’s volunteers will staff and support a COVID-19 community vaccine clinic this Saturday, May 1, at NorthStar Foundation, 4242 North 49th Ave., from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The second vaccine will be given on May 22. Children’s is partnering with Douglas County Health Department and NorthStar Foundation to offer this clinic and help protect our community. Thanks to the overwhelming response, we are no longer accepting volunteers.
Please support this effort by spreading the word to your friends and family members and share related social media content posted by Children’s. You can also share the linked information in an email or text. Thank you again for the amazing response! Because of you, we are #ChildrensStrong for each other and for our community.
This is part of our ongoing series featuring physician-leaders to help the entire medical staff learn more about these colleagues.
• Chief of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center
• Professor and Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center Department of Surgery
“That’s how I try to make the decisions: would I have the opportunity to make a real difference in the community?”
Dr. Abdalla Zarroug is settling into his role as Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, an impactful position he has held since February. He brings 20 years of experience providing high-quality, patient-focused pediatric surgical care, including his 14 years at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. More recently, Dr. Zarroug served as Division Chief of Pediatric and General Thoracic Surgery at Sidra Medicine, a hospital he helped to launch in Doha, Qatar.
What inspired you to pursue a career pediatric surgery?
“When I was in medical school, I thought being a surgeon was the most ‘complete’ physician. You can intervene with medicine or surgery. You can basically do it all. Then, after a rotation in pediatric surgery, I found it was even more gratifying to help children and babies. We have to be good pediatricians. We have to do neonatal care and ICU care. We do burn care. We do trauma care. We can even delve into fetal surgery.”
Before coming to Omaha, you practiced 7,300 miles away in Doha, Qatar. What attracted you to Children’s?
“I was looking for an opportunity in the U.S. to make a difference. That’s how I try to make the decisions: would I have the opportunity to make a real difference in the community?”
What excites you most about your new division chief position at Children’s?
“All of the ingredients are there to make Children’s – along with the university – one of the best academic children’s surgical programs in the country. There is nothing missing. The goal is to make it even better.”
As a pediatric surgeon, how have you worked to improve the experience for children?
“My whole career, I’ve focused on minimally invasive surgery, reducing the surgical insult or trauma to a child. So, instead of making a big incision, you find ways – through research and through laparoscopy – to make a smaller incision or no incision at all while maintaining the same or better outcome.”
What do you want Omaha area parents – and the community in general — to know about you?
“I, unfortunately, know what it’s like to have children who have been quite ill. I really do get it. When parents have the fear that something is wrong with their child – and they’re hoping for the best – they should know that I will try my very best every single time, no matter what it takes, to do what that child needs, in the context of the family.”
What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
“I spend time with our five kids (ages 10-17). I play soccer when I can. One of our hobbies is travelling. We love it – and we’ve been to a lot of places.”
Children’s Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) has recently developed a multidisciplinary developmental care team. This team is composed of nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, respiratory therapists, dietitians, Child Life specialists, lactation specialists, educators, social workers and developmental care specialists. The team hopes to eventually add volunteers. This team is working to improve developmental care through the CCU through the use of pre-feeding interventions, activities of daily living, supporting family-centered care, protecting sleep for neuroprotection and minimizing pain and stress. This group plans to do this through Cornerstone education, staff trainings, parent and provider teaching sheets and open dialogue to encourage this culture of change. Watch for upcoming education opportunities.