Come to the Relay and see an (soon-to-be) Olympian

There are a lot of reasons why you should come out for the Red Baloon Run & Relay next Saturday, Oct. 9: To support the patients at Children's. To get some good exercise on a Saturday morning. To bring your family together for a good cause.

And there's another reason that you probably don't know: You'll get to see an Olympian. Or at least one in training. Heidi Morse wouldn't want me to call her that, but she's earned the title.

The Children's ICU nurse was running 80 to 100 miles a week to train for Olympic qualifying - while working 12-hour shifts and leading the youth group at her church - before getting a stress fracture in her pelvis a couple of months ago.

She's feeling better now, though, and is gradually working her way back to Olympic training. The Red Baloon Run & Relay will be her first organized race on that path. She's on the Simtations, a team of Children's staff who either work in or interact with the Sim Lab and some of their family members, including Heidi's parents.

"I can't promise how fast I'll run, but I'm excited to do it," she said.

I asked her how fast she usually runs.

Her answer: "I was running a 3-hour marathon (which equates to under 7 minutes per mile), but I'm running around a 9:30 mile right now, which is really slow for me."

My response: "That would be the fastest mile of my life."

Her goal is to run a 2:46:00 marathon at the Boston Marathon this spring, which would qualify her to run in the Olympic trials in Houston in Janurary, 2012.

"It's going to take a lot of work, but it's within reach," she said.

She said she'll keep running even if she doesn't qualify for the Olympics, though.

"It's the only time I can get away from my cell phone and all the other distractions and listen to music and have prayer time. It's my de-stress time."

You can meet her for yourself next week at the relay, which "runs" from 9:30 a.m. to noon at Children's Medical Center at Legacy. You can also donate to Children's on behalf of Heidi and the Simtations here.

The specialist dilemma

Kilynn Sommer, a marketing and communications coordinator in the Public Relations department at Children's and a mother of a 2-year-old son, explains the importance of pediatric specialists:

As I waited for another much-dreaded doctor’s appointment, I couldn’t help but notice the number of young patients who were sitting alongside me to see my doctor, an adult specialist. These days, there seems to be a specialist for just about anything. But a recent issue of Parents Magazine reports a national shortage of pediatric specialists. This leaves parents with a dilemma: Travel a potentially long distance to see a pediatric specialist or resort to taking a child to a doctor who treats mostly adults.

I saw the value and importance of taking my child to a pediatric specialist when I first looked into putting my little one into soccer. While any soccer coach understands the game, would you send your toddler to learn soccer from a high school coach? While the tantrums are likely to be the same (on my son’s part anyway), I can guarantee a 2-year-old has you beat, when he says “no” to direction given by the coach.

This same idea should be thought of when choosing a physician or specialist for your child. While an adult specialist may be completely competent in his or her field, the doctor may or may not know the latest treatments available for taking care of a child or have a pediatric-trained staff or pediatric-specific equipment.

In the past three years, more than 180 new pediatric specialists and sub-specialists have come to Dallas to serve on the Children’s medical staff in areas including Urology, Cardiac Care and Neurology, to name only a few. We recognize that fewer doctors are choosing pediatric subspecialties in school, so at Children’s Medical Center, we strive to recruit the best and the brightest to serve North Texas families. Our Plano, TX, hospital — Children’s Medical Center at Legacy — was created to expand our pediatric-specific services to the northern sector of the Metroplex, making it easier for parents to choose pediatric specialists for their children’s care whether it’s for ENT issues, sports injuries or after-hours emergencies. And keep an eye out for a Children’s specialty clinic in your area. We’re planning to open more of them so that we can bring our specialists into the communities that need them most.

Children's wins another award

You know, I think I'm sort of a good luck charm. Since I began working at Children's in April 2008, the hospital has experienced one major success after the other.

First, there was the opening of Children's at Legacy. The completion of the stand-alone satellite hospital qualified Children's as the nation's only pediatric healthcare system. A panel of architectural industry leaders selected it as one of the Top 10 best architectural developments in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 2008.

Then Children's achieved Magnet status, the highest national recognition awarded to a hospital or medical center for excellence in nursing. After that, Parents magazine ranked Children's as the No. 17 pediatric hospital in the United States. A few months later, U.S.News & World Report recognized us as one of the Top 10 pediatric hospitals in the U.S.
Somewhere in the midst of all that, The Joint Commission awarded Children's with six disease-specific certifications (no other pediatric hospital in the U.S. has more than two). To top it all off, both The Dallas Morning News and Dallas Business Journal also recognized Children’s by including us on their respective lists of best places to work in Dallas in 2009.

So, I wasn't that surprised last weekend when voters on momsoutloud.com recognized Children's at Legacy as the top pediatric hospital in Collin County as part of the Fall 2009 Mom's Voice! Awards. I've been conditioned to expect Children's to experience success again and again and again...

That says alot about the quality of leadership, skill and dedication our hospital has. Maybe it also says something about the good fortune I bring - but if that's true, then why do my Cubs keep losing?