- Men's Health, Women's Health, Pediatrics, Uncategorized, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogPasadena residents Cristina and Matt knew they were in good hands, but they’ve seen more of the inside of a hospital than any new parent should. When their eleven week old son, Beckett, was diagnosed with a lung infection caused by RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), the Pediatric Department became their second home for seven days. When Beckett got RSV, he was extremely ill with a high fever, coughing and sneezing. When we realized he was going to be there for a little bit longer than we thought, Nurse Tim attached a little sound machine to the crib in the room. He also gave us a fleece blanket to make Beckett’s stay a little more comfortable. One of the lead nurses, Melanie, also provided a bouncy seat, Beckett’s favorite, as well as some toys and a rocking chair for us to help comfort him. They are absolutely amazing people with huge hearts. You can tell they all love their jobs and are passionate about children. In addition to Beckett being sick, his father and I were too. The incredible part is that the kind nurses supported us too. We traded shifts with him so we could get rest to be healthy for him. My husband would come at dinner to trade and the nurses would keep an eye on Beckett so Matt and I could grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria together. They have a room called the “nourishment center.” It’s a way for parents to get things like juices, yogurts, bagels, and crackers to avoid having to travel to the cafeteria multiple times—a way to feel a sense of home. Having Beckett so incredibly ill was the scariest thing we’ve gone through, especially being first time parents, but having the doctors and nurses in a pediatric setting was a true blessing. We couldn’t have survived the week without their support. We trusted our newborn was in wonderful caring hands. I also have to say that Pediatrics Department is probably the most adorable place on the face of the earth. It has a whole nautical sailor theme. It’s so cute. If I were a kid it definitely wouldn’t be as scary going there.
- Men's Health, Women's Health, Heart Care, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogOne year after suffering a stroke, 47-year-old Ray Torreon says the AAMC Stroke Club has played an important role in helping him recover from and learn to adjust to life after stroke. At those early stroke club meetings . . . I didn’t intend to, but I broke down and cried. The support I got from them lifted my spirits, gave me hope. That’s what the stroke club does. The volunteers that run it from the hospital are a great resource and the educational topics are helpful in terms of learning about stroke, about medication, therapy, the division of rehab services and what’s out there as far as getting a job. But as important as that it, the fellowship of having people who have been on this same journey is what I needed. Other stroke patients understand how alienating and isolating it is— how alone you are even if you have people around you. Everyone’s stroke is different, but everyone in the stroke club has been depressed and has lost things and doesn’t know what the future holds for them. I was a Capitol Hill lobbyist. I was a sales person running a 12 million dollar store. My speech was my trade and someone listening to me now might say my speech is fine, but I’m struggling because I don’t have the fluency I once had. I have never in my entire life struggled for words. I could sell ice cream to Eskimos. I don’t feel that way now. Other stroke patients understand that. Even as everyone else says, “Oh, you look good, or you sound fine,” the stroke patient inwardly shakes his or her head and thinks, “No, I don’t feel fine.” I’m not recovered fully. I have deficits and even though I appear fine to you, I feel sad that I’ve lost some abilities that I know I used to have.” You mourn for the person you were. In the stroke club you come to realize that they’ve had the same journey. There are people with severe aphasia. There are people who were in a wheelchair in the beginning and now they’re walking with a cane or a walker. That’s good to see. Over time, we’ve sort of developed a core group, and we want to expand this to really touch as many other stroke patients as possible. We’re looking for active members and we’re planning more activities outside the stroke club just to socialize and help people along the path to finding a new life. A stroke literally blows up your life, and you have to put the pieces back together. The other members of the stroke club and I would like to help survivors put their lives back together more quickly than they can alone. To learn more about the Stroke Support Group contact Laurie Neely, physical therapist, or Jennifer Irving, speech-language pathologist or by phone: 443-481-6872. Visit our askAAMC to find out more about the support groups and services we offer to all members of our community.
- Community, Heart Care, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogNine years after a stroke left Judy Crane with such severe speech deficits that she had difficulty being understood, the 56-year-old Millersville resident has become an articulate and outspoken advocate for stroke patients. One of 90 patient advisors at AAMC, Judy sits on the stroke advisory committee and the patient advisory council. In both roles, she provides hospital staff with the patient perspective that helps them provide patient-centered care, reaching beyond a patient’s medical needs. When I was invited to be a patient advisor on the stroke committee, I thought it was kind of intriguing that they even want a patient to be on their committee. The committee gets together once a month to review the stroke cases, looking for how they can make things better. Anybody that has anything to do with a patient is there. The doctors and nurses, the pharmacy and lab, radiology, they look at the whole gamut. When topics come up, I look at them from my experience and also other people’s experiences and I provide the “bedside” view. If I can add something about how a patient would feel about it, I give my input. One of the things I asked at the stroke committee was if anybody was willing to volunteer to start a stroke support group. Right there, three people volunteered. One is a speech therapist; one’s a physical therapist and one an occupational therapist. When I had my stroke, I really needed to be able to talk to somebody who had experienced this. There are so many questions. Will I be able to work? What about disability? What are some tips that can help me in relating to my kids, my spouse, my friends. I mean it goes on and on. The group is a great sounding board and it’s wonderful for the staff too because they can see how patients manage afterward, and we can give feedback to the hospital about how things went. Now, I’m also on the patient-family advisor council. That’s a bigger group that helps some of the staff come up with patient-centered care goals and initiatives. One goal is educating staff so everyone understands what patient-centered care really is. Sometimes it’s as simple as giving a patient hope, or encouraging them to be a part of their recovery process. It’s all about really looking at each patient individually, and empowering both the patient and their families to be engaged in their treatment and recovery. To learn more about the Stroke Support Group contact Laurie Neely, physical therapist, or Jennifer Irving, speech-language pathologist or by phone: 443-481-6872. To find out how to become a patient advisor contact Jeanne Morris, advisor coordinator, at 443-481-6054.
- Men's Health, Uncategorized, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogIt was a sunny evening in May when Roger and Mary LeBlanc got a call telling them that their son had been in a serious car accident. Their daughter-in-law did not survive and their son, Matthew, sustained a severe head injury. Roger and Mary stayed with Matthew for two months at a hospital in Wisconsin where the accident occurred. They had planned to continue caring for him at their home in Boston, but Matthew wanted to return to his life in Maryland. Although he was recovering, he wasn’t ready to be on his own. The Hackerman-Patz House gave Dad and Matthew a supportive home away-from-home near the hospital while they transitioned through a difficult time. Being at the Hackerman-Patz house allowed me to take care of Matt 100 percent of the time and it increased the pace of his recovery. When we got here, Matt had two to three medical appointments a day. At that point he couldn’t walk across the street by himself. He had about 30 minutes of energy and he needed about six hours of rest to get to the next appointment. He would wake up, walk to an appointment with me, come back and go to bed. Then he’d get up, eat a meal and go to another appointment. There’s no way we could have made it through the day without the Hackerman-Patz house—without that ability to literally walk across the street to make that happen. We would have had to stretch out the appointments, because he couldn’t physically do it. It’s an incredibly reasonable price, too. Being at the Hackerman-Patz house was unbelievable and the volunteer staff treated us like gold. It was like being in a second home. From a family standpoint, to be able to step out of the room and sit and watch TV and write a letter, to do laundry, these are the things you take for granted. After two weeks of staying in the House, we moved into Matt’s apartment and started going to appointments from there. It’s been about nine months now, and his mental capacity and his cognitive skills are 100 percent now. You’d never know he has a big piece of plastic in his head holding his skull together. It’s probably going to take him another year before he builds up his stamina, but he’s back to work about six hours a day. I can’t say enough good things about the Hackerman-Patz house, but even more so, it’s indicative of what the hospital thinks is important. That they allow and support a Hackerman-Patz to be built is one of the best reasons why Matt’s going to recover.
- Men's Health, Women's Health, Uncategorized, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogWhen gastroenterologist Melanie Lynn Jackson needed someone she could trust to perform acid reflux surgery on her own chronic illness, she turned to Adrian Park, MD, at AAMC. I’m a gastroenterologist, and I come from a family of medical professionals. My grandmother was a nurse, my father was an internal medicine physician in Philadelphia. I found a good opportunity here in Annapolis, and I joined a group practice. The problem I have is that my esophagus, my food pipe, does not contract properly. Normally your food pipe has contractions to get the food down, but mine doesn’t contract well at all. Additionally, where it meets the stomach it was very tight. So, the food pipe was starting to get big, stretching where food was trying to go through something very tight. I was diagnosed with the condition back in 1999 when I was in medical school, and I did some non-surgical methods to treat the problem. That worked well for many years, but then when I became pregnant, my symptoms got worse. That’s when I decided to have surgery. Once I heard that Dr. Park was coming to town, and I read his bio, there was really no excuse to not do the surgery now. He was an expert in this type of procedure. The surgical recovery was probably just about a week or so. Because it was laparoscopic, so you have just the small incisions. The biggest thing was not being able to lift. Of course having a two year old, it was very difficult to lift my daughter who is about 20-25 pounds. I couldn’t do that for about a month. I still have to take my time, swallow my food. I do have to make lifestyle changes, such as small, frequent meals. That’s going to be permanent.
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