When Shelly Begue joined the pediatric surgical team as a surgical nurse clinician in 2010 she began to develop an interest in a very specialized patient population – the hospital’s young ostomy patients. “Ostomies are created for a multitude of reasons,” Shelly said. “Some children are born with defects of the intestine or have congenital […]
Population Health helps transform care coordination for high-risk patients
When Akron Children’s Hospital began its Population Health management program in 2017 it was with the vision to develop a family-centered, efficient and outcome-focused care coordination model for the hospital’s highest risk patients. According to Kris Grayem, vice president of population health, “Our department looks at how we can collaborate with outside agencies and departments […]
Teen Lives a Life He Loves Despite Multiple Autoimmune Diseases
It started nearly 10 years ago when Caleb Thurman and his mom, Charice Fort, thought he had the stomach flu. But Caleb only continued to feel worse. After being referred to Akron Children’s Hospital, several tests revealed that Caleb had Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract. It’s an autoimmune condition with no […]
Busy teen refuses to let Crohn’s disease run his life
When Johnnie Murphy was 9 years old, his mom, Natalie, started to notice he didn’t seem to feel well whenever it came time to eat. “He’d push his food around on his plate or even try to hide it,” she said. “I always chalked it up to the fact that he probably ate too much […]
Akron boy, mom will be Akron Children’s voice on Capitol Hill
When Charice Fort and her 12-year-old son, Caleb Thurman, travel to Washington, D.C., June 18 – 20, they hope to tell Ohio lawmakers that safeguards like Ohio’s Bureau of Children with Medical Handicaps (BCMH) have made all the difference in their life since Caleb was diagnosed with several chronic illnesses.
