2012 Grant Awards

Genetics and Metabolism – Kimberly Chapman, MD, PhD –  $28,438

Provide funds to purchase an instrument to do indirect calorimetry in patients with inborn errors of metabolism who may or may not be mechanically ventilated during illness to improve understanding of the disease and to provide a basis for more accurate therapeutic recommendations. Purchase a computer and software for use in the study.

Cardiovascular Surgery – Dilip Nath, MD – $34,500

Provide research materials and supplies and the cost of a laboratory technician at fifty percent time to study whether the antioxidant properties of gamma-glutamylcysteine can reduce the risk of injury to developing white matter in the brain during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. The study will utilize an innovative mouse brain slice cardio-pulmonary bypass model.

Neuropsychology – Meagan Sady, PhD, Catherine McGill, PsyD – $2,320

Purchase four Apple iPAD2 devices for the Safe Concussions Outcome Recovery and Education (SCORE) Program at CNMC. The iPad2s will allow for electronic data collections and management, assist in the treatment and real-time monitoring of recovery progress and improve communication regarding treatment progress with the treating clinician.

Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine – Judith Owens MD MPH – $30,963

Purchase three wall bed systems to be utilized in the newly renovated CNMC Sleep Lab, which will allow for multifunctional use of the Sleep Lab as both a Pediatric Sleep Clinic during the day and sleep testing facility at night.

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences – Leilanie Ayala, RN, MSN – $3,903

Michael Ruiz, MBA, BA, CPS Send the two department members who are certified Crisis Prevention Instructors to the Autism Spectrum Disorder Application of the Non-Violent Crisis Intervention Training Program and purchase communication materials and devices to improve the ability of staff to manage children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This training and the materials will significantly assist staff in communicating effectively and intervening safely with the increasing numbers of ASD patients at Children’s National.

Neurology – Sandra Cushman-Weinstein – $15,000

Provide scholarships for children to attend Super Campers Always for Sickle Cell Anemia, a one week residential camp for children with this condition. Staffed by physicians, residents, nurses and other health specialists from Children’s National as well as by trained peers, the camp offers respite care for families while providing for the campers education, independence, exercise, social connections and teen leadership training. About half of the campers require scholarships for the camps. In 2011 there were six camps offered – Camp Heartbeat, Take Charge of Diabetes, Neurofibromatosis, Epilepsy, Tourette and Asperger’s syndromes, Healthy Habits (obesity), Take Hold (cerebral palsy), and Super Smile (Down syndrome).

Center for Clinical and Community Research – Stephen Teach, MD, MPH – $7,084

Purchase four HP tablets that will upgrade the technology available in the IMPACT DC Asthma clinic. This technology will help integrate the use of electronic medical records and novel patient education materials into the Clinic’s workflow. It is hoped that these enhancements will help effectively transition high-risk patients with asthma from dependence on acute care in the emergency department and hospital settings to ongoing care in their primary care homes.

Perioperative Services – Dianne Cochran, Periop. Serv. CI PICU, Christine Moran PICU Supervisor Surgical Care Unit, Eliana Maldonado Surgical Care CI – $11,434

Provide a Golvo Lift which allows obese patients to be transferred and lifted more easily. The lift will be shared among three units, Perioperative Services, Surgical Care and Pediatric Intensive Care. Over twenty percent of the patients seen at CNMC are obese. Moving and transferring these patients is very difficult and has resulted in numerous workplace injuries to staff. Use of a Golvo lift will safely minimize risks to both patients and staff.

Emergency Medicine – David Mathison, MD MBA, Christina Johns, MD, Med Mohsen Saidinejad, MD, MPH – $30,580

Provide funding to create and distribute specialized video discharge instructions in both English and Spanish to families following an Emergency Department visit for a major or minor injury. This project would utilize a sustainable platform that is already developed and is partially funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities and the DC Department of Health.

Medical Unit – Pam Samuelson, RN, Heather Walsh, RN –  $680

Provide funding to purchase two “Talk Light2” devices that will monitor noise levels at the busiest nurses’ stations on 7E. Recent patient feedback suggests that the noise level, particularly at night, is too high. The monitors will serve as a constant reminder to all staff members of the need to minimize noise, thus maintaining a quiet therapeutic environment for patients and their families.

Hospitalist – Aisha Davis, MD Neha Shah, MD Melanie Anspacher, MD Kavita Parikh, MD Priti Bhansali, MD –  $8,077

Children with special health care needs (CNHCN) are increasingly prevalent in U.S. hospitals; CNMC alone cares for 30 CNHCN per day. The purpose of this project is to create a multi-modal, web-based educational curriculum on CNHCN topics that are not taught in medical school. The sixty hospitalists that rotate through CNMC will utilize the curriculum with the overall goal of improving inpatient care for this growing at-risk population at CNMC.

Nursing – Marsha Smith, RN-BC, CCM, RNIII Karen Sachse, MSN, RN, CPON Margaret Perry, BSN, RN, CPHON – $11,100

Provide funding to implement and evaluate a new and more comprehensive program to prepare families of children newly diagnosed with leukemia to safely and effectively transition from the hospital to home. This will be accomplished by establishing a program called “The Road to Home” for family education and discharge planning during a child’s first hospitalization and transition to out- patient care. Following a positive evaluation of this phase, the program will be broadened to include all families of patients diagnosed with cancer and/ or blood disorders.

Center for Neuroscience Research – Li-Jin Chew – $6, 932

Provide funding to perform a pilot study in human oligodendroglioma to identify effective regulators of terminal differentiation. Oligodendroglioma are rare central nervous system tumors in children, and because of the low frequency, the causes of these gliomas are poorly understood.

Emergency Medicine – Karen O’Connell, MD – $20,131

Provide funding for the purchase of a video laryngoscope, Glidescope, to assist with an emergency department quality improvement project which focuses on maximizing safe and successful intubations, while also providing real-time education for trainees.

Ambulatory Services – Sheila Buergin, Clincal Manager – $4,057

Purchase a countertop ice maker for the Post-Operative Recovery(PACU) unit at the Ambulatory Surgery Center. Ice is a vital tool in the ASC- ice packs and ice chips are essential to their everyday activities.

Hematology/Oncology – Lori Blair, RN, BSN, CPON –  $1,735

Purchase the Fish! Leadership Series, a program that will be used by the Hematology/Oncology/BMT leadership team to develop leadership initiatives and skills, as well as to promote professional development. This program will serve the leadership team directly, but will also enhance the performance of the staff and teams in the entire unit in providing care to patients and their families.

Nursing – Kathy Ann Sheehy, APRN, PCNS-BC –  $1,650

Provide funds to support health policy and legislative advocacy education and the activities of a select group of Registered (RN) and Advanced Practice (APRN) nurses at Children’s National Hospital. In collaboration with the Department of Government and External Affairs and the Nursing-Child Health Advocacy Institute (CHAI), this core group of nurses will develop expertise in monitoring health care policy and education. They will also participate in patient and family centered advocacy program development.

NICU – Laurie Smell, Outreach Coordinator – $4,122

Provide the new, updated educational materials to prepare nurses for certification in the following: Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP), STABLE Program, Cardiac STABLE, RN-C and CCRN exams. The NRP and STABLE programs prepare nurses in the gold standard of evidenced-based care and resuscitation for premature and newborn infants. As one of the top 10 NICUs in the nation, and a designated Magnet hospital, the goal is to increase the number of nurses with advanced certification by 5%.

Robert Center for Surgical Care – Carolyn Benigno, MS, RN, CPN –  $13,105

Provide funds to create a new online “Having Surgery” video for the Children’s National website. This video will prepare children for surgery and will also reflect the new spaces that have been constructed for patients and their families, not only in the perioperative area, but also in the main hospital.

Nursing – Wayne Neal, MAT, RN-BC –  $1,782

Provide medical models of major body parts, medical posters, and a utility cart to carry these teaching tools to the bedside or conference room to facilitate learning for families and staff. Poor health literacy is linked to poor outcomes, more frequent hospitalizations and lower use of preventive services. These supplies will provide nurses with multiple resources to enhance the learning experiences of families with diverse needs, visual challenges, and language differences.

Neurology – Peter Shibuya, Nurse Practitioner – $1,058

Purchase two iPad 2 tablet computers to provide a medical documentation system for clinic patients suffering from neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Among patients with cutaneous or plexiform neurofibromas, healthcare providers can use the iPad 2 to provide consented imaging of these neurofibromas, allowing them to serially monitor the neurofibromas to help determine any interval growth of the tumor and apply this information in determining surgical candidacy.

Dept. of Neonatolgy/NICU – Lamia Soghier, MD – $29,000

Fund the purchase of two small portable fiberoptic video laryngoscopes that will provide neonatal care providers and transport personnel with enhanced views of the larynx, enabling intubation of neonates with difficult or critical airways.

Family Services – Heather Langlois, LICSW Gayle Gilmore, LICSW –  $3,000

Fund an educational retreat for social work staff in an effort to decrease burnout and increase job satisfaction. Facilitated by professionals who specialize in traumatic stress education, the retreat will be held off-site to enable staff to focus on self-care.

Gastroenterology – Lourie Conklin, MD –  $34,700

Provide cell cultures and lab supplies for a pilot study of epithelial mitosis and dyssynchrony in pediatric Crohn’s Disease. The study is a logical extension of Dr. Freishtat’s and Dr. Hoffman’s groundbreaking work in understanding the role of epithelial mitosis in asthma to intestinal epithelial disease. Proof of mitotic dyssynchrony could potentially change the Crohn’s paradigm and lead to the development of a new class of drugs.

PICU – Krista Cato, RN, BSN. Lanita Daffin, Rn, BSN, CPN Peggy Wieroniey, RN, BSN Rebecca Ali, RN, BSN, CCRN, CPN – $16,528

Purchase 7 sleep sofas so that parents of critically ill children in the private rooms of the PICU can spend the night comfortably near their children. About half of the families of children in the PICU’s 14 separate rooms choose to spend the night with their child, usually for the average three to five day stay, but occasionally for several months. By replacing the current chairs with more comfortable beds, the PICU staff hope to increase family involvement, recognizing the significant role that parents play in clinical decision making and patient outcomes.

Trauma and Burn Services – Karen O’Connell, MD Randall Burd, MD – $4,074

Purchase an audio upgrade to the current trauma bay video recording system, maximizing the recording of clear and precise statements from the trauma team leader. This equipment will support a study to determine the impact of leadership on the performance of pediatric trauma teams and to identify leadership qualities required for successful team performance during trauma team evaluation.

Genetic Medicine- Sherry Dadgar, MSc Eric Hoffman, PhD –  $32,777

Provide funds to support the center for Genetic Medicine to test the efficacy of a new glucocorticoid like drug in treating patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Dr. Eric Hoffman’s group at CNMC has developed this new drug, VBP-15, which appears to have the desired beneficial effects of steroids but with less toxicity to the patient. The mechanism by which this drug works would also apply to other diseases such as asthma, inflammatory bowel disease and inner ear infections.

Division of Transport – Evelyn Hickman, RN Medicine – $4,052

Provide funds to send two individuals to the Safety Management Training Academy. The intended outcome of the training is to improve risk mitigation, to improve response to safety issues, and to make a positive impact on the overall safety culture in the Division of Transport Medicine.

Total Awards – $362,772

Two researchers looking at test results

Grants awarded by the Founders Auxiliary Board have inspired change and transformative advances in diverse areas of service throughout the hospital. Past awards have supported research, child wellness initiatives such as concussion prevention, immunizations, cutting-edge equipment and technology, pediatric surgical robots, professional development, and educational support.