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Meeting the Greatest Needs of Children
When you give to the Greatest Need Children’s Fund, you help Connecticut Children’s meet the immediate medical, emotional and social health care needs of our patients and their families. The Greatest Need Children’s Fund provides resources for immediate necessities—like purchasing PPE during the pandemic—and allows Connecticut Children’s to make strategic investments in important initiatives like Virtual Health Care and more close-to-home care locations. The Greatest Need Children’s Fund is the backbone of support for Connecticut Children’s.
Family-Centered Care
When a child is sick or injured, it affects the entire family. Of course, the medical, emotional and social health of a child is paramount. But we know treatment and procedures can be scary, so we have Child Life Specialists who explain procedures to patients in age-appropriate ways. They also provide support for siblings, because having a sick brother or sister is tough. Parents may need to take extra time away from work when they have a sick child, so we make Family Assistance available. Providing bus passes or medical transportation to make sure families can get to critical medical appointments and assuring rent and utility bills are paid—so children have a safe and warm home to recover in—are parts of our family-centered care.
Expert Providers
The people who deliver care to patients at Connecticut Children’s are truly remarkable. Many of our physicians are recognized as international leaders in their disciplines, and all of our clinicians have one thing in common: they are dedicated to the children in their care. For 2021-2022, Connecticut Children’s has been named one of the best pediatric hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Once again our Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology, Gastroenterology and GI Surgery, Urology and Neonatology programs are top-ranked nationally, and for the first time, our Orthopedics division also achieved the national ranking in addition to being recognized as the top orthopedics program in the state of Connecticut.
Specialized Equipment
Many think running a children’s hospital costs less than an adult hospital. Kids are smaller, so everything should be smaller and less expensive, but the opposite is true. Because our patients range from one-pound micro-preemie babies to 65-year-old adult congenital heart defect patients, we need more equipment in more sizes. This allows us to be ready to provide the best care for every patient who comes through our doors, whether they are born at 25 weeks or have been living with a congenital pediatric condition into adulthood.
Jordyn's Story
When Jordyn was born, it seemed that she was a healthy baby. The doctors heard a slight heart murmur shortly after birth, but otherwise she did very well and went home. When her mom, Bethany, took Jordyn to her first checkup a few of days later, the doctors heard something much more concerning. They discovered she had pulmonary stenosis, a condition where the valve that controls blood flow to the lungs is not opening wide enough. It’s a condition that requires a surgical or catheter intervention right away.
“From the imaging,” Bethany says, “they thought the percentage of closure would be in the 70s, but when they went in, they found it was much worse. In fact, that valve was 92 percent closed. They were surprised I didn’t walk in there with a dead baby. They couldn’t believe she lasted as long as she did. We were lucky that the doctors were on their game and looked at her as quickly as they did.”
To look at Jordyn today, you’d never guess she had any kind of issue as a baby. She is a competitive dancer, winning most of her competitions.
What Your Gift Makes Possible
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