With a prenatal - Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland

With a prenatal
diagnosis, Children’s
cleft lip team helps
a family prepare.
ALSO INSIDE:
Barbara Staggers, MD, is a
Force of
[Adolescent] Nature
Thanks to Dr. Staggers, Children’s
has a national-model, urban-based
Adolescent Medicine department.
WINTER 2007
From Fat to Fit
Children’s HEAL team
helps families learn healthy
living habits and how to
beat childhood obesity.

2
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
Latest technology
at Children’s
7 Children’s Hospital is the
first pediatric medical center
on the West Coast to get its
own portable CT scanner.
From Fat to Fit
9 Children’s HEAL
team helps families
learn healthy living
habits and helps kids
beat childhood obesity.
On the cover
Roman Leigh and his mom, Robin, have
big smiles now that the surgeries to
repair Roman’s cleft lip and palate are
behind them. See Getting ready for
Roman on page 6. Photo by Gary
Turchin.
table of contents
Force of
(adolescent) nature
19
When people think of Children’s Hospital, they think of babies and
small children. But thanks to Barbara Staggers, MD, Children’s also
has a national-model, urban-based Adolescent Medicine department.
3 DEAR READER
Letter from the president.
4 THIS AND THAT
NICU nurses take flight, increasing their REACH With Children’s
NICU nurses on board, REACH helicopters can now transport smaller preemies.
More Children’s services available at East Bay satellite offices
New Modesto office opens in March; Walnut Creek office growing, too.
Rep. Barbara Lee at Children’s Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D-Oakland) press conference
at Children’s rallied support for SCHIP, which helps bring health insurance
to uninsured, low-income children.
Getting ready for Roman With a prenatal diagnosis of cleft lip and palate,
Children’s Craniofacial department helps a family prepare.
13 FEATURE: HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY
Toughing out leukemia Adrianna’s fighting spirit sees her through a
battle against acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).
16 FEATURE: PEDIATRIC REHABILITATION
Food fight Feeding specialists offer tips, and help children with feeding disorders
expand their diet.
24 FEATURE: CHILDREN’S NEW HOSPITAL
Children’s will build in Oakland Why we’re building at our existing site;
plus more about how we’ll do it and and how you can help.
28 CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL’S FOUNDATION
A 95-year history of visionary philanthropy at Children’s How
Children’s foundation will continue its commitment to help Children’s grow.
Gala to Help Raise Healthy Children January event will benefit
Children’s Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) program.
Good karma builds happy faces Yoga students donate to help a craniofacial
patient and his family pay for care and travel expenses.
Children’s most generous benefactors honored at international
event An annual gala celebrates major donors to children’s hospitals.
Make a gift to Children’s before you ring in the New Year
Make a year-end gift to Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland
and you could save money on your taxes.

Dear Reader:
As Northern California moves from fall to winter, raindrops fall and
temperatures cool. But at Children’s Hospital, our efforts to build a new
hospital are just warming up.
You may already know that in September we announced our decision
to build a new hospital on land adjacent to our existing campus. You can
read more about this on page 24.
It was on this site in 1912 that nurse Bertha Wright and a group of East
Bay women decided to found what eventually became today’s Children’s
Hospital. But it wasn’t until 1914 that they opened; they had to raise
money and convert existing buildings before their dream became a reality.
For us too it will take time: two years of planning before we break
ground in 2010, and then three years of construction.
To make our dream a reality we need to listen—to neighbors, friends
and supporters—and work with all of them. Children’s Hospital wants to
be a good neighbor, as well as Northern California’s premier pediatric
healthcare provider.
One important supporter, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), asked us to
host her October press conference urging reauthorization of the State
Children’s Health Insurance Program. Read about this and other advocacy
efforts on page 5.
In this issue we also profile Barbara Staggers, MD, our renowned chief
of Adolescent Medicine. Dr. Staggers offers hard-earned advice to parents
of teenagers.
Other articles in this issue contain tips about preventing childhood
obesity and addressing feeding disorders, news about our new portable
CT scanner and inspiration from leukemia survivor Adrianna Tucker.
To all those supporting Children’s Hospital—especially our generous
donors—thank you.
Frank Tiedemann
President and Chief Executive Officer
Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland
WINTER 2007 3
Children’s HandPrints is a publication of Children’s
Hospital & Research Center Oakland, 747 52nd Street,
Oakland, CA 94609; 510-428-3000.
Written, designed and produced by:
Communications Dept.
Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland
665 53rd Street, Oakland, CA 94609
Phone: 510-428-3367
Fax: 510-601-3907
Frank Tiedemann
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mary L. Dean
Senior Vice President, Chief Strategic Development Officer
Tina Amey
Receptionist
Debbie Dare
Senior Graphic Designer
Susan Foxall
Project Manager
Tom Levy
Senior Writer
Venita Robinson
Director, Media and Community Relations
Erika Sandstrom
Graphic Designer
Gary Turchin
Director, Public Relations, and Senior Writer
Diana Yee
Media Relations Specialist
Board of Directors
Harold Davis, Chairman
Jeffrey Cheung, Vice Chair
Arthur D’Harlingue, MD
Arnold Grisham
James Keefe, Treasurer
Watson M. Laetsch, PhD
Michael LeNoir, MD
Barbara May, Secretary
Melba Muscarolas
Karen Stout
Lloyd Takao, MD
Frank Tiedemann
Gene Upshaw
Harold (Tim) C. Warner, PhD
Story requests, comments or suggestions for Children’s
HandPrints may be emailed to comm@mail.cho.org or
sent to 747 52nd St., Oakland, CA 94609.

4
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat
ON LOCATION: (Left) At right, Tess Estocapia, RN, Children’s transport coordinator, helps move an incubator out of a REACH
helicopter during a practice run of the new joint service. (Right) REACH’s Debbie Biederwolf, RN, and (l) Children’s Helen
Nguyen, RN, prepare to transfer a baby to the transport incubator as part of the practice run.
NEW SERVICES
NICU nurses
take flight,
increasing their
REACH
Children’s nurses assure faster
care for more preemies.
REACH helicopters have been providing
medical air transport to Bay Area children
since 1987. Thanks to a new partnership
with Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal
Intensive Care Nursery (NICU), the
familiar red choppers can now serve preemies
as young as 24 weeks, gestation.
Under a new agreement with Santa
Rosa–based REACH Air Medical Services,
a Children’s neonatal nurse specialist will
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
this
ANDthat
now accompany REACH helicopters on
neonatal transports. The collaboration
took flight in July after 16 Children’s
NICU nurses received helicopter transport
training. Children’s NICU nurses are now
available to fly when needed.
“This gives (REACH) greater acuity in
handling newborns,” said Kathy Logee,
RN, a REACH flight nurse.
REACH handles all types of patients,
said Logee, but has only two flight nurses
specializing in neonatal care. This limited
REACH’s services, as well as the size of
the preemies they could transport.
Bringing Children’s 16 NICU nurses
aboard, trained and experienced in handling
and moving very small preemies,
expands REACH’s capabilities. REACH
may now transport by air, tiny preemies
that previously had to be transferred more
slowly, by road.
this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat
With Children’s NICU nurses at the
ready, REACH can now provide life-saving
transportation to these tiny babies faster. ★
EXPANDING
SERVICES
More Children’s
services available
at East Bay
satellite offices
In early 2008, Children’s Hospital
plans to open its fifth physicians’ offices
site, at 4016 Dale Road in Modesto.
Children’s clinicians from Cardiology and
Neurosurgery are already serving
Children’s patient families in the northern
Central Valley area out of a Modesto location.
More services will be added soon. To
t
AN

this
ANDthat
this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat
Walnut Creek 2 (New)
108 La Casa Via, Suite 104
925-952-3849
Specialties: Endocrinology,
Surgery, Neurology and
Behavioral Pediatrics
this
ANDthat
WALNUT CREEK EXPANSION: Children’s satellite physicians’
offices in Walnut Creek added space for additional services in a
building adjacent to its current site.
all our referring physicians and patient
families in the Stockton/Tracy/ Modesto
area: please stay tuned.
The Walnut Creek physicians’ offices
have been outgrowing their space at 106
La Casa Via. They will expand, adding
space next door at 108 La Casa Via, for
use by clinicians from Endocrinology,
Surgery, Neurology and Behavioral
Pediatrics. See map above for addresses
and phone numbers. ★
ADVOCACY
Rep. Barbara Lee
at Children’s
Collaborating to support
children’s healthcare.
When the people we care for can’t
speak up, we must speak for them. That’s
advocacy, an important part of the mis-
Walnut Creek 1
106 La Casa Via, Suite 220
Cardiology/Orthopedics:
925-939-8687
Other specialties:
925-979-4000
sion of Children’s Hospital & Research
Center Oakland.
Back in January, Children’s Hospital
was one of 36 sites hosting a National
Town Hall Meeting on Children’s Health
Coverage. More than 150 people gathered
here to talk about children’s healthcare,
including the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
Recently, SCHIP was back in the
news. Congress twice reauthorized it,
expanding coverage nationally from 6.6
million to 10 million children.
Unfortunately, President Bush vetoed
Congress’ efforts.
In October, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-
Oakland) asked Children’s Hospital to
host her press conference to rally support
for SCHIP expansion. “If our children
are not healthy, we don’t really have a
future,” said Rep. Lee.
WINTER 2007 5
this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat
ADVOCACY AT CHILDREN’S: Rep. Barbara Lee called for healthcare
for all kids during a press conference she held at Children’s
Hospital. Children’s President and CEO Frank Tiedemann looks on.
Children’s Hospital is proud to
collaborate with Rep. Lee and others,
whether it’s to support children’s health
insurance, graduate medical education
funding—which helps train the next
generation of pediatricians—or obesity
research and funding.
Children’s Hospital’s advocacy program—the
Child Advocacy Network
(CAN)—will speak up for those who
can’t speak up for themselves.
To receive updates and advocacy
alerts, go to Children’s Hospital’s Web
site, www.childrenshospitaloakland.org,
and click on the “Join Us” tab. From
there, click on “Advocate for children,”
and sign up for Children’s CAN. ★

6
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat
ROMAN BEFORE AND AFTER: (Left) Little Roman on his blankie at home before his surgeries. (Right) Roman visits
Children’s, with a smiling mom and dad, after his surgeries.
CLEFT LIP SERVICES
Getting ready
for Roman
With a prenatal diagnosis,
Children’s team helps a
family prepare.
Robin and Rodrigo Leigh went for a
routine ultrasound during the twentieth
week of Robin’s pregnancy. The technician
reading the images pointed out two feet,
two hands, two eyes. “Then she got really
quiet,” Robin recalled, “when she got
around to the mouth.” The baby, they were
informed, had a cleft lip and possibly a
cleft palate.
The Leighs were immediately referred
to the Craniofacial department at
Children’s Hospital & Research Center
Oakland. Nurse practitioner Peg Langham,
RN, MS, PNP, took Robin’s call and
assured her that everything would be OK.
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
this
ANDthat
Peg became the Leighs’ guide through the
coming months.
When a 3-D sonogram more accurately
portrayed the baby’s condition, the Leighs
shared the images with Peg and with
Bryant Toth, MD, a Children’s plastic surgeon,
who would repair the lip and palate.
“Dr. Toth showed us his past work,”
Robin said. “He spent a lot of time making
us feel comfortable.”
Not that there weren’t anxious
moments ahead.
“Don’t get me wrong, I did panic,”
Robin acknowledged.
Roman Leigh was born on Sept. 10,
2006, “an adorable 8-pound, 21-inch
happy little boy,” Robin remembered.
Roman’s first stop, before even going
home, was Children’s Hospital. There he
smiled for nurse Peg.
Peg assured them that Roman looked
fine. She scheduled the first surgery before
the holidays, so Robin could start back to
this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat this
ANDthat
work afterwards.
A few weeks later, the Leighs met oneon-one
with Children’s interdisciplinary
baby panel, including a speech pathologist,
an otolaryngologist (ENT specialist), Dr.
Toth and Elio Gizzi, MD, medical director,
Craniofacial department.
“I told them what I tell all parents,”
Dr. Gizzi explained, “that our goal, if we
do our job correctly, is to make sure parents
get to be parents, and not medical
coordinators.”
On Dec. 5, in a three-hour operation,
Dr. Toth repaired Roman’s lip. Seven
months later, he repaired Roman’s palate.
His picture is worth a thousand words.
“I don’t think we could have asked for
anything more from Children’s,” Rod said.
“They were so well organized, we didn’t
have to worry about the process. Peg, being
our main contact, was always there for any
question. She was there from beginning to
end. She’s still there.” ★

Patients at Children’s Hospital &
Research Center Oakland no
longer have to be moved out of
the intensive care unit or operating
room to get a CT scan. Children’s is
now the first and only pediatric medical
center on the West Coast to have and
use the portable CereTom CT scanner.
The CereTom minimizes risk and
saves time by eliminating the need to
transport critical patients from a hospital
bed or operating room to the Diagnostic
Imaging department.
Mounted on wheels, and able to pass
through any standard doorway, the unit
can easily be moved to where it’s needed,
mostly intensive care units and operating
rooms.
Diagnostic Imaging technologists
will primarily use the new scanner to
examine children having a variety of
head or neck conditions. Each year,
Children’s treats nearly 300 children
with serious head injuries and performs
more than 350 neurosurgical procedures
that could require an immediate CT
scan.
“Children’s is committed to the latest
technology that benefits clinical
care,” said Peter Sun, MD, Children’s
Hospital’s Neurosurgery medical director.
“The portable CereTom scanner
brings the CT scanner to the patient in
the OR during surgery, where we can
get a clear and immediate image of surgical
results. It also brings the scanner to
the ICU, eliminating the need to transport
some critically ill patients to the
CT scanner in Diagnostic Imaging.”
This state-of-the-art technology,
WINTER 2007 7
Diagnostic Imaging: Children’s Hospital is first pediatric
medical center on West Coast to get
portable
CT scanner
ROLL ‘EM: Hauwie Nguyen, RT(R), CRT, at left, and David Westwater, RT(R), CRT,
roll Children’s Hospital’s portable CT scanner out of the OR.
Written and photographed
by Tom Levy.
developed by Massachusetts-based
NeuroLogica Corporation, also integrates
with Children’s Picture Archiving
and Communications System (PACS).
PACS allows physicians at Children’s to
view all diagnostic imaging exams,
including CereTom images, on any
PACS-capable computer in the hospital.
The CereTom is a wireless-capable,
multi-slice system that’s able to generate
up to eight slices per revolution.
During operation, images are sent
wirelessly to a portable workstation for
viewing. The workstation resembles a
large laptop computer with an accessory
keyboard and mouse.
Pediatric radiologists at Children’s
Hospital have a long-standing interest in
radiation safety, and will use their
expertise to develop appropriate pediatric
techniques for the CereTom, previously
used mostly with adults.
Although the machine was developed
specifically for CT scanning of the
head, in selected cases it may also be
used to examine extremities or to do
full-body scans of small infants in emergency
situations.
MRI upgrades speed
imaging, add features
Upgrading MRI capabilities at
Children’s Hospital, a project begun in

8
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
July, is enabling faster image reconstruction
times, up to 33 percent faster, as
well as new capabilities for cardiac,
orthopedic and neurological imaging.
Some of the newer techniques offer
more than evolution; the newest capabilities
in MRI are a diagnostic imaging
revolution. What once gave only a static
roadmap—anatomy—can now practically
give a bird’s eye view of moving traffic—physiology.
“It used to be that we depicted
anatomy,” said Kenneth Martin, MD, a
radiologist in Children’s Diagnostic
Imaging department. “You do a CT
scan—you see the bone, it’s white; you
see the air in the lung, it’s black; you see
the blood vessels and the soft tissues of
the chest, they’re gray. There’s the anatomy.
“Now, with some specialized MRI
techniques, we’re looking at physiology.
For example, when we look at the brain,
in addition to simple vascular permeability
or contrast enhancement, we can
now image and quantify blood flow and
water diffusion, and determine relative
amounts of the chemical constituents of
normal and abnormal metabolism.
“What are these tissues doing? Are
they producing neurons? If they are, we
would see N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA indicates
neuronal activity) elevated. If they
are producing tumor cells, you would see
choline elevated (associated with rapid
cell growth).
“Does the tissue display normal energy
metabolism? If it were abnormal,
you’d see lactic acid.
“And we can detect all of those
things. So we are looking not only at the
size and shape of things these days; we’re
also looking at physiology.”
The combination of hardware and
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
software upgrades gives
Children’s Hospital
access to all MRI procedures
shown to be useful,
said Dr. Martin, one
of seven Children’s radiologists—physicians
specializing in diagnostic
imaging.
The upgrades allow
for future expansion and
upgradeability, as well as
faster scans now.
For example, the
patient most frequently
needing an MRI scan is
a child suffering from
seizures, said Dr. Martin.
A thorough scan, including a minimum
of eight sequences, which once took 42
minutes, now only requires about 28
minutes—a third less time.
“These are kids who can’t lie there
without moving the whole time; they
have to be under general anesthesia,”
said Dr. Martin. So shorter scan times
also means a significantly shorter time
under general anesthesia for these young
patients.
The hardware upgrade includes a
new computer and digital amplifiers
replacing analog amplifiers, allowing
greater resolution and more future capabilities.
Adding software upgrades gives
Children’s Diagnostic Imaging department
the ability to do perfusion scanning,
tractography, functional imaging
and spectroscopy.
Perfusion scanning allows physicians
to examine the quantity and quality
of blood flow to particular tissues.
This adds valuable insight to tumor and
stroke imaging.
PORTABLE CT SCANNER: The laptop at left shows
an image from a pre-surgery scan of the patient
at right, visible through the scanner’s circular
opening.
Tractography allows examination
of how particular cortical and subcortical
regions in the brain interconnect with
each other by tracking individual axons.
The color maps of interconnected axons
that are generated depict pathways in the
brain.
Functional imaging uses the
MRI’s ability to detect blood flow
increases to regions of the brain during
specific activities, such as speech and
motor tasks. This can be useful for localizing
certain functions in the brain
before surgery.
Spectroscopy allows Diagnostic
Imaging experts to actually measure relative
amounts of chemical constituents
within the brain, providing valuable
clues to metabolic diseases, stroke, infection
and tumor imaging.
For example, looking at relative
choline levels may give an additional
clue to a brain tumor’s borders because
high levels of choline are associated with
abnormally rapid cell growth, a cancer
clue.

Zach
A team of Children’s
clinicians helps children
and their families learn
healthy living habits.
Written and photographed
by Tom Levy.
Jesus
Every day there’s more bad news
about childhood obesity. People
across the world, and their children,
are getting fatter, and the number
of children with obesity-related health
problems grows. Healthcare providers fear
they’ll one day drown under a tidal wave
of people suffering from diseases associated
with being overweight.
But housed in the Gastroenterology
department, one Children’s Hospital &
Research Center Oakland program is
doing its best to shrink the wave, one
child and one family at a time. The
Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL)
program’s tight-knit cadre of clinicians
helps lead kids and their families back to
healthier ways of living.
Zachary Fernandez, a bright and precociously
articulate 8-year-old, calls him-
WINTER 2007 9
self an art geek and exercise-phobe. “He
was struggling with his weight,” said
Karin Schiffman, MD, his pediatrician.
“He’d begun to realize it and was concerned
about potential health problems.”
Since Dr. Schiffman referred him to
HEAL in June, Zachary is swimming
after school twice a week and has given
up soda, chips and Gatorade. He’s also
added trampoline jumping and jumproping
to his exercise regime.
Jesus Rico, a HEAL teen, is active
enough to have become a 15-year-old
karate black belt. The thoughtful softspoken
teen also enjoys playing basketball
and soccer; he plays right midfielder with
the Mustangs at St. Elizabeth High
School in Oakland. But about a year ago,
while his height wasn’t changing, he was
steadily gaining weight.

10 CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
Zachary calls
himself an art geek
and exercise-phobe.
Since Dr. Schiffman referred him
to HEAL in June, Zachary is
swimming after school
twice a week and has given
up soda, chips and Gatorade.
HEADFIRST: Zachary Fernandez takes swimming lessons twice a week after school at the King
Swim Center in Berkeley. This and other activities, like jump-roping and trampoline jumping, at
right, are helping him control his weight, and keeping him healthy and energetic.
His pediatrician recommended quarterly
weigh-ins. After a year of continued
weight gain, his pediatrician referred him
and his family to HEAL.
Now, after completing the six-visit
HEAL program and participating in two
months of support group meetings, Jesus
has sworn off calorie-packed Gatorade
before soccer practice, gotten used to eating
dinners that are steamed instead of
fried and added inches to his height.
HEAL’s ability to tailor its program to
fit each kid is a plus for referring clinicians.
“It’s well thought out and founded
on the idea of developing a very individualized
program geared to each specific
patient,” said Mary Ann Franks, MD, of
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in
Berkeley. “HEAL is intensive and patient
oriented.”
While most public health officials
and researchers favor public policy fixes,
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
some, like Joanne P. Ikeda, MA, RD, also
see value in intervention programs like
HEAL.
“Providing treatment is important—
there are too many 100-pound 5-yearolds
and 200-pound 10-year-olds out
there to ignore,” said Ikeda, nutritionist
emeritus at the University of California,
Berkeley’s School of Public Health.
“Programs such as the one Children’s
Hospital provides are important interventions—they
can prevent the 100-pound
5-year-old from becoming the 200pound
10-year-old, and they can help the
200-pound 10-year-old gradually achieve
a healthier weight, rather than becoming
a candidate for bariatric surgery.”
For the HEAL team, led by Lydia
Tinajero-Deck, MD, helping overweight
kids is less about changing their weight
and more about changing how they, and
their families, eat and exercise. “It’s
Zach
important to teach parents how to be
lifelong role models,” said Dr. Tinajero-
Deck.
The HEALers recognize that children
don’t exist apart from their families; the
family is a unit. An overweight child is
also a symptom of a family needing help
with food and activity choices.
Red flags to obesity risk:
• Rapid weight gain, more than 1 pound
a month
Tip for parents: Ask your pediatrician
how your child is growing.
• Drinking lots of sugary beverages, such
as soda and juice
• Little to no physical activity
• Eating junk food or fast food every day
• Eating little to no fruits and vegetables
(lack of a balanced diet)

HEALing your home: Daily eating tips
5—4—3—2—1—0—lift off
5: Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
4: Drink a minimum of 4 glasses of water, instead of sugary beverages,
every day.
3: Eat an average of 3 servings of dairy-based foods every day.
2: Limit daily screen time to 2 hours or less.
1: Get 1 hour or more of physical activity or exercise daily.
0: Avoid eating fast food and junk food every day
“Before the program, I had the habit
of cooking a lot of pork and a lot of
fried foods,” said Jesus’ mother, Alma,
through a Spanish interpreter. “Now I’ve
learned to steam a lot of foods, including
pasta and vegetables, and only serve
pork maybe once a month, if at all.”
It can be hard for parents to accept
the power they have over their child’s
health. But as Spiderman’s uncle famously
told him in the web-slinger’s first
movie, “With great power comes great
responsibility.” Jesus’ mother gets it.
“I came to terms with the fact that
this was all in my hands,” said Alma.
“I’m the mom, and they’re going to eat
what I cook. And I’m the only one who
decides what they’re going to eat.”
Now, instead of cases of Gatorade
on the dining room floor of their San
Leandro home, there are cases of water
and Propel, a fruit-flavored water-based
drink. Propel boasts 25 calories per 20ounce
bottle, far less than Gatorade’s
125.
A recent Sunday lunch featured halibut,
cooked in small amounts of butter,
served with steamed pasta mixed with
shredded carrots. There were also raw
baby carrots and broccoli on the side.
Alma and her husband, Francisco, meat
cutters at an Oakland grocery store,
shared cooking duties.
Even Spiderman would stay healthy
on food like that.
* * * * *
At the Fernandez family’s home in
Berkeley, Zachary’s father, Rick, handles
most grocery buying and cooking. He
learned to cook from his father, a restaurant
chef. Rick ticks off some of the
many changes in the family’s eating
habits. “I stopped buying potato chips,”
said Rick. “No more chips, we have
crackers instead.”
“Crackers and cheese!” adds
Zachary.
Rick also got a salad spinner, the
better to prepare the many salads the
family is now eating. He lists more
changes: reading food labels, no more
fried chicken, burgers made with turkey
instead of beef, no more juice boxes,
and using soy and nonfat milk instead
of whole milk.
“We also stopped going to fast food
places,” said Rick. “We haven’t been to
McDonald’s in three months.”
Rick’s mother, who loves to cook,
also supports his family’s health efforts.
“(Rick’s mom) has been telling us for
the longest time to quit the soda, to quit
this, to quit that,” said his wife,
Camille.
* * * * *
But it’s not always easy to shift culinary
gears. Alma and Francisco, childhood
sweethearts, were born and raised
in Mexico City. They, Jesus and their
two daughters were used to traditional
WINTER 2007 11
Mexican-style foods.
There were complaints when Alma
took the HEAL sessions to heart. “It was
hard, because we just changed (food
habits) from one day to another,” said
Jesus.
His mother agrees. “Believe me, in
the beginning there were a lot of struggles,
a lot of verbal arguments, a lot of
resistance,” said Alma. “But I’ve learned
how to overcome the resistance, perhaps
to ignore it to a certain extent.”
She not only stopped frying, she
even cut way back on some Mexican
favorites. “From one day to the next I
stopped buying Mexican sweetbread,
which is a huge staple,” said Alma, “and
that was hard.”
She also reduced how often she
serves atole de maiz to the children
before school. Atole (ah-tollay), a hot,
creamy corn beverage, can be sweetened
with high-calorie extras like sugar, honey
or chocolate. Adding sweeteners, a common
practice in many cultures, quickly
turns a wholesome beverage or food
from nutritious to unhealthy.
The Fernandez family had its
favorites, too. “Ice cream was our downfall,”
said Zachary’s mother, Camille.
They’ve now switched to frozen yogurt.
* * * * *
The families’ progress showcases
HEAL’s emphasis on education and
motivation. Zachary still remembers
HEAL nutritionist Afroz Subedar showing
them how much sugar is in a bottle
of soda. Afroz stresses the importance of
reading and comparing food labels.
“We offer families ideas about how
to make healthy food choices,” said
Afroz, “then let them decide what they
want to work on.”
Family members are now reading

12
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
“I came to terms with the fact
that this was all in my hands,”
said Jesus’ mother, Alma. “I’m the mom,
and they’re going to eat what I cook. And I’m the
only one who decides what they’re going to eat.”
HEALTHY FAMILY LUNCH: At Sunday lunch, Jesus’ mom, Alma, and her husband, Francisco, serve a healthy lunch of halibut,
pasta, and raw broccoli and carrots. Jesus joins his parents and his 6-year-old sister, Karla, at the family’s dining room table.
HEAL program:
Six visits
Jesus
1) Meet with physician or nurse practitioner:
Help the patient to know their strengths.
Identify barriers to doing the right thing.
2) Dietitian: Keep a food diary.
3) Exercise specialist: Do aerobic activity four
days a week for 30 minutes and you’ll have a
healthy heart, stronger body, more energy
and improved self-esteem.
4) Health counselor: Get motivated. See your
strengths, challenge your barriers, develop
self-confidence and deal with teasing.
5) Nutrition: Eat fruits and vegetables regularly.
6) Make a plan: How to make HEALing an ongoing
priority in your life, with help from your
pediatrician.
food labels and avoiding high-calorie foods and high-calorie preparation
techniques like frying.
Both families also encourage healthy choices: in food—more
fruits and vegetables, and more salads—and in activity—less TV
and more walking. “Yesterday we had to go to the mall and
(Zachary) skipped the escalator, taking the stairs, without being
asked,” said Camille.
The customized HEAL experience is about the child and their
family. As Zachary goes, so goes the Fernandez family.
“The HEAL program seemed like a great way to get the whole
(Fernandez) family involved,” said Dr. Schiffman. “When
(Zachary) comes into the office, he’s so proud of what he can do
physically. He’s looking for new ways to make his body his own.”
For more information about the HEAL
program at Children’s Hospital, call the
HEAL Line at 510-428-3762 or visit their Web page
at www.childrenshospitaloakland.org.

Written and photographed by Gary Turchin.
Adrianna has a fighting
spirit. She needed every
ounce of it to kick leukemia.
Now she’s back to kicking
what 11-year-olds are supposed
to kick: soccer balls.
A drianna Tucker is tough. The 11-year-old Castro
Valley youth has a first-degree black belt in karate
and can hold her own against most boys her age. She
runs the fastest mile of any girl in her class, has a killer
soccer kick and regularly enjoys off-road dirt biking
with her “G-Pa Ray,” a retired 29-year veteran of the

14
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
Alameda County Sheriff’s
department. Her mom,
Lauren, also works in the
department, as a detective in
the sex crimes unit. It’s a
tough family.
But back in October 2005,
Adrianna wasn’t feeling tough. She lasted
only five minutes in a soccer game
before she raised her hand to be subbed
out.
“I was tired,” she recalled. “That
was real unusual for me. I don’t get tired
easily.”
Later that weekend, while dirt biking
with Grandpa Ray, Adrianna couldn’t
keep up. “I was going real slow, normally
I bump into his tires…. I was
lethargic.”
Lethargic?
“Yeah, I know almost all the words
from the hospital now.”
In days to come she felt even worse.
Lauren took Adrianna to their pediatrician
and insisted on a blood test. The
next day, the pediatrician called Lauren
and reported that Adrianna was severely
anemic and needed to go to Children’s
Hospital Oakland right away.
“Grandpa picked me up and took
me, and mom met us there,” Adrianna
recalled.
At Children’s, Adrianna was given
another blood test and was admitted.
Children’s doctors also ordered a bone
marrow test.
The bone marrow test revealed the
diagnosis: acute myelogenous leukemia
(AML), a very aggressive kind of
leukemia. Only about 15 percent of the
2,000 pediatric leukemia cases seen in
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
ALL SMILES: (Previous page) It’s high fives for
Adrianna and her teammates after a soccer
match in Hayward. She played almost the entire
game, and still had plenty of energy when it was
over. (Above) Adrianna on the couch at home,
showing off for Grandpa Ray. (Center) In her
backyard, hugging her pooch. (Far right) Back on
the soccer field, running down the ball. (Right)
Lauren and Adrianna are all hugs after the game.
the United States every year are AML.
The AML had moved through
Adrianna’s system so fast that 85 percent
of her bone marrow cells were leukemic.
Without treatment, she was only weeks
from death.
“On that day (Nov. 3, 2005) I got a
room, and that’s how everything started,”
Adrianna remembered.
Her room was in Children’s 5 South
Immunocompromised unit; and she was
put on chemotherapy immediately by
Elliott Vichinsky, MD, division chief of
Hematology/Oncology.
“AML is very aggressive and requires
extremely intensive therapy,” Dr.
Vichinsky explained.
For the next five months, she stayed
on repeating cycles of chemotherapy:
blast away at the AML cells, wait for her
blood counts to recover, blast away
again. Recover. Blast.
It was very intense.
How did she cope?
“I honestly think, that when I was in
there, that this is a life and death situation.
There’s no changing it, you have it
and you can’t refuse it.
“I have a saying: God won’t give me
anything that I can’t handle…. I was so
physically and mentally strong that I
coped with it better than some, and I
think my body took in the chemo
well…. I personally think if I did not
have my attitude, I would have died.”
Over the ensuing months, she and

her family watched her leukemia count
dwindle to 15 percent, then 2 percent,
then less than 1 percent. But the treatments
took their toll.
“I handled it well, but the last seven
weeks, I could hardly walk, my bones
were in pain, I was so sick, I could barely
hold my legs up.” She also broke out
in rashes, had burns in her esophagus,
nonstop fevers and painful swollen
lymph nodes.
“I had to say in my head, ‘I’ve got to
make it through this. I will not die from
this. I will not surrender. I’m not going
to give up.’
“It doesn’t take mercy on anyone. I
was looking at pictures in the hospital,
of my friends who were there, too, and
this disease really is ruthless; it doesn’t
“I had to say in my head,
‘I’ve got to make it
through this. I will
not die from this. I will not
surrender. I’m not
going to give up.’”
show mercy to anyone. It will kill you.”
Protocol for her treatment was six to
nine months of chemotherapy. But
because she recovered so well between
treatments, and didn’t have to wait too
long for her next cycle, she was able to
complete the course in five months.
Finally in remission, with her
immune system restored, she went
home. Two weeks later she went to summer
camp and climbed a rope course
through the trees. A couple of months
after that, at her first soccer game since
coming home, she scored four goals.
Then she finished her black belt test,
after a grueling 10-hour day. And she
recently ran a 7:26 mile, the fastest for
any girl in her PE class.
“Never surrender,” she says of her
WINTER 2007 15
ordeal. “How do you know you can get
through it if you don’t try? If you have
courage and you have heart and you
have the right attitude, anything you
put your mind to, you can do.”
If you’d like to contact
Dr. Vichinsky,
or learn more
about Children’s
Hematology/Oncology
department, please call
510-428-3372.

16
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
Written and photographed by Tom Levy.

For a parent, there’s nothing more
important than feeding their
child. Parents often feel they’re
failures when their baby has trouble
making the transition from liquid to
solid food.
But telling the difference between a
picky eater and a child with a feeding
problem is a combination of art and science.
For mother Lisa Turner, whose last
name has been changed at her request to
protect her privacy, the fear came when
her daughter, Carly, was 10 months old.
Carly wouldn’t transition from breastfeeding
to a bottle or sippy cup; she
gagged on purees or solid foods.
Since Carly took nothing but breast
milk from mom and wouldn’t accept it
from a bottle, Lisa couldn’t leave her
daughter’s side for more than a few hours
or even let another caregiver feed her. “I
was depressed,” said Lisa. “I just could
not ever get a break from her, knowing
she was constantly dependent on me. I
didn’t know when it was ever going to
end.”
Her pediatrician’s staff tried to help,
and Lisa tried all their suggestions. None
were effective. “My intuition was saying,
this is not it,” said Lisa. “When I had a
cup out there with baby food, Carly
would start crying. We were trying anything,
even cookies; Carly would look at
it, touch it and feel it, but put nothing
in her mouth.”
Pediatrician refers to Children’s
By the time Carly had her 9-month
well-baby visit, Lara Lembach, MD,
Carly’s pediatrician, also knew something
was wrong. “I knew there was a problem,
because most babies by this age are also
taking other foods, including table
food.” She referred Carly to
Occupational Therapy in the Pediatric
Rehabilitation department at Children’s
Hospital & Research Center Oakland.
Dr. Lembach, who has practiced in
the Bay Area since 1998, had referred
patients to Children’s many times, but it
was the first time for a feeding problem.
“Children’s is a good partner to the pediatricians
in our area,” said Dr. Lembach.
“Children’s is very well known and well
respected.”
OT’s evaluation is first step
In October 2006, Amelia Foos, MS,
OTR/L, a Children’s occupational therapist
specializing in feeding disorders,
began working with Carly and Lisa.
Amelia always begins with a thorough
evaluation of the child, the parents
and their interaction. In this case, she
WINTER 2007 17
determined that Carly had oral hypersensitivity
and more rudimentary oral motor
skills than expected for her age. She
noticed the youngster wasn’t exploring
the world with her mouth, the way most
kids her age do.
Amelia, like other Children’s OTs,
takes a holistic approach. She doesn’t
analyze a problem in isolation. She gathers
a detailed history, observing the
child’s mechanical abilities and skills, and
their social interactions with caregivers
and family members.
She emphasizes how charged feeding
issues can be: “Many parents feel that ‘If I
can feed my child, I’m a good caregiver.’”
Amelia started off with three recommendations
for Lisa:
Increase nonfood oral stimulation
to reduce oral hypersensitivity
MODELING HEALTHY EATING BEHAVIOR: (Previous page) Occupational therapist Amelia
Foos, at right, models feeding behavior while working with Carly and her mom, Lisa. Playful
food items like red licorice can be used to help children with feeding disorders.
(Below) During a session, Amelia tries to make eating new foods more fun for Carly by
showing how much she likes trying new foods herself.

18
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
Structure mealtime so Carly would
anticipate the routine
Develop oral-motor exercises.
Lisa introduced oral stimulation into
play with Carly, including gum massage,
with a finger and a toothbrush. She also
developed a detailed plan for mealtime
structure, including food positioning;
when to offer food, especially new foods;
and eliminating distractions, to increase
family mealtime socializing.
It was all designed to help desensitize
Carly to oral stimulation, minimize her
discomfort around new foods and textures,
and improve her oral motor skills
and sensorimotor capabilities.
For example, Lisa might place a snack
in Carly’s mouth back by her molars,
instead of in the front, encouraging
Carly’s developing chewing skills. Or she
might place food in the side of Carly’s
mouth, so she’d have to use her tongue to
retrieve it.
Sensitivity to sensory stimulation
affects feeding behavior
While no medical “cause” was identified
for Carly’s feeding disorder, Amelia
stresses that children’s tolerance for sensory
stimulation and sensorimotor abilities
varies across a spectrum, just like those of
adults.
In some children with high sensitivity
to sensory stimuli like textures and flavors,
or who have less developed oral
motor skills, feeding behavior can be disturbed
when transitioning to solids.
The key to helping a child and caregiver(s)
is identifying a problem quickly,
analyzing it carefully and developing a
detailed plan for child and caregiver to
follow, whether or not there are also medical
complications.
Six months and 14 clinic visits later,
Carly had graduated to taking liquids
from a cup; was tolerating oral stimula-
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
tion, including toothbrushing; and was
eating a good variety of age-appropriate
solid foods.
She’d also put on weight, going from
the 20th to the 45th percentile for her
age. At her 15-month well-baby visit, Dr.
Lembach saw that Carly had “vastly
improved.”
By then, Lisa had also achieved a personal
goal, taking a shopping trip to a
nearby mall. It was proof that Carly’s
feeding ability had improved and that
mom could get needed breaks.
“It was an easy process,” said Lisa.
“Amelia is just fantastic. She told me
exactly what to do and I would just do it
at home. I highly recommend (the
Children’s program). Once Amelia gave
us information, about the oral defensiveness
and sensory issues, it made everything
more understandable.”
Fortunately, in Carly’s case, there were
no medical complications. When there
are complications, such as aspiration
problems or a gastrostomy tube, the
Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine team
works with other Children’s specialists
from across the entire hospital.
Lisa was part of the rehab team too.
Over the course of Carly’s treatment she’d
collected an inches-thick binder of her
own notes. “This is also why Carly did so
well,” said Amelia, indicating the binder.
“Mom was motivated and showed excellent
use of our techniques at home.”
To make a referral to
the Occupational
Therapy team at
Children’s Pediatric
Rehabilitation Medicine
department, or to get more
information about feeding
disorders, call 510-428-3885, ext.
2821. Ask for Sue Edelmann, OTR/L, the
Occupational Therapy coordinator.
Amelia Foos, an occupational therapist on
the Rehabilitation Medicine team at
Children’s Hospital, offers simple rules of
thumb for pediatricians and parents to
keep in mind, courtesy of veteran feeding
disorders expert Kay A. Toomey, PhD.
Red flags for feeding
disorders
When to ask for help:
• Ongoing poor weight gain or weight
loss
• Ongoing choking, gagging or coughing
during meals
• Ongoing problems with vomiting
• More than one incident of nasal reflux
• History of a traumatic choking incident
• History of eating and breathing
coordination problems, with ongoing
respiratory issues
• Inability to transition to baby food
purees by 10 months of age
• Inability to accept any table food
solids by 12 months of age
• Inability to transition from breast/
bottle to a cup by 16 months of age
• Has not weaned off baby foods by 16
months of age
• Aversion or avoidance of all foods in
specific texture or food group
• Food range of less than 20 foods,
especially if foods are being dropped
over time with no new foods replacing
those lost
• An infant who cries and/or arches her
back at most meals
• Family is fighting about food and
feeding (i.e., meals are battles)
• Parent repeatedly reports that the
child is difficult for everyone to feed
• Parental history of an eating disorder,
with a child not meeting weight goals
Reprinted with permission of the author.
© 2002 by Kay A. Toomey, PhD

Children’s chief of
Adolescent Medicine,
and advocate-in-chief
for adolescents everywhere,
talks about her
life and the motivation
for her work.
Written and
photographed by Gary Turchin.
Barbara Staggers, MD
As a teenager, Barbara Staggers, MD, chief of the division of
Adolescent Medicine, Children’s Hospital & Research Center
Oakland, had the usual girlhood dreams: to be a ballerina (she
was a professional at age 10) or maybe a veterinarian (she loves
all sorts of critters). But the summer of her 18th year changed
everything.
Working at a summer sports program for inner-city youths at what was then Cal
State Hayward, the young Barbara Staggers—a naval officer’s daughter, a scholar, a
somewhat protected child—watched as “a pimp” pulled up to claim a 14-year-old
girl who was in her class. When phoned, the girl’s mother instructed the program
director to let her daughter go because they “needed the money.”
The future Dr. Staggers was “appalled,” as much by the mother as the man.
Something deep inside of her—a social conscience, a righteous indignation, a passion
for making a difference—was awakened.
“I was 18,” she said, “I’m 53 now, and I can still close my eyes and see that
young lady’s face. I don’t know what happened to her; maybe she got killed that
night, maybe she was too embarrassed to come back. She just disappeared off the
face of the Earth, but I’ll never forget her.”

20
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
Later that summer her dad’s oldest
brother went into an emergency room in
Southern California with chest pains.
While the receptionist dilly-dallied—
she was more focused on whether the
hospital would be paid than on admitting
him—her uncle died. A hospital
administrator called her father to apologize.
“He told my father, ‘If we’d have
known (his brother) was a doctor, we’d
have treated him differently.’”
Whatever woke her up earlier that
summer now roared out of its gate. The
overachieving, well-rounded young
lady—ballet dancer, pom-pom girl,
debutante, with the world at her finger-
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
tips—was ready to do battle to help the
most underrepresented, least-served population
of all.
“Those two incidents made me say,
hmm, who gets screwed, who gets
screwed the most?” Dr. Staggers
explained. “Who has problems assessing
healthcare? People of color. Who has the
most trouble? Teens. After that it was
clear to me, I wanted to do adolescent
healthcare, and deal with youth.”
She found her mission, and she hasn’t
strayed an inch from it since.
Medicine in her blood
It should have been little surprise
that Dr. Staggers chose medicine for her
COUNSELOR, DOCTOR: Dr. Staggers chats with a patient. Part of adolescent medicine
for Dr. Staggers is talking to her patients, finding out what’s going on in their
homes, heads and hearts.
Dr. Staggers
speaks on
adolescence
In a wide-ranging interview,
Dr. Staggers talked about her life
and vision. She also shared her
perspective on dealing with
adolescents. In the following
excerpts, she tells it like it is, and
then some.
What I do know about adolescent
healthcare is two
things:
1) All teens need to be parented;
but they’re not necessarily
going to thank you for parenting
them, that’s normal. And
parents have to be a teen’s parent
and not their friend; and
2) There has to be somewhere
in a teen’s life unconditional
love; one person that
they can think about, look at
and know is going love them
unconditionally.
Those two things are critical.
It may not be a parent who
loves them unconditionally. But
there has to be that one person
in their life that they know,
come hell or high water, is
going to be there for them.

I get asked: Is it OK for my son or
daughter to be on the Internet 18
hours a day?
I tell them: Why would you as a parent
think that that’s appropriate?
Or is it OK to have a party with thirty
17- to 18-year-olds in a room
without an adult?
Why would you think that’s OK?
Part of good parenting, and you
don’t have to be the perfect parent
yourself, but you better find someone
who can be the parent for your kid and
can be there when you can’t be there.
If you know you have a deficiency
somewhere, or you know something is
difficult for you to deal with, then be
proactive instead of reactive. Go to
another adult you trust, that you have a
relationship with, and say, “This is my
weakness, can you help me parent my
child in this area?”
That’s good parenting, not just
ignoring it and hoping it goes away.
Be strategic, have someone in place
to be there when you can’t be. Have an
extended family.
Teens don’t expect parents to
be perfect, but when you make a
mistake, they expect you to admit that
you’ve made the mistake. And that’s the
piece that’s important. To them, it’s not
that you are perfect, not that you are
always 100 percent, not that you know
everything; it’s that if you don’t know
something, you’re willing to admit
it and maybe you can go find it out
together.
They don’t expect you to have all the
answers, but they expect you to help
them get the answers.
Here’s the beauty of it: When teens
do well, the community is doing
well. Because if we’re doing the right
thing in the community, and it makes
sense and it’s consistent, and they aren’t
getting one message at home, one mes-
sage on TV, one message in the church
or mosque or synagogue, then the teen
does well, they’re healthy, they don’t kill
each other, don’t kill themselves, don’t
kill anybody else.
The other piece I love about
adolescent healthcare is flipping
the paradigm. There is nobody more
energetic or more resilient than adolescents,
and we don’t market that. We’re
so busy putting them down, being afraid
of them, we have this negative image of
them, but we don’t invest in them in
ways that help them develop what they
need to have as adults: resiliency, flexibility,
the ability to make decisions….
We don’t celebrate these skills that we
can develop in them, but boy, when you
develop those skills, give them the
opportunity, they’re off and running and
they do phenomenal things.
We’re good at punishing teens, we
can lock them up if they go bad, but
how do we reward them? What do
they get when they get a good grade?
What do they get when they don’t get in
trouble? Where’s the pat on the back?
WINTER 2007 21
MENTOR, DOCTOR: In Adolescent Medicine’s compact office, Dr. Staggers consults
with a resident about her patients.
Where’s the reward?
We don’t think about that. Where do
they go if they don’t want to drink?
Where do they go to have fun with their
peers where it’s safe?
We have lots of activities for little
kids, play structures and parks, but we
don’t think about party places for teens.
What else besides sports is there for
them? If they can’t play sports, how
does the community embrace that other
part of life? I like challenging communities
to think about that…. What are you
doing for teens? We don’t have that
structured into society.
You can’t be inconsistent with what
you do with teens. You have to be
honest, you have to be truthful. You
can’t lie. That’s the kiss of death in
adolescent healthcare; you’d be retired
forever, out the door and never coming
back. Teens keep you honest, that’s why
people either love them or hate them. If
you have something to hide, don’t be
around a 14-year-old. That’s a bad
thing, they go straight for the jugular.

22
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
life’s work. It was in her blood.
Her father, Frank Staggers, MD, was
the first African-American surgical subspecialist
the United States Navy ever
trained. He was only the second
African-American to be president of the
California Medical Association. Dr.
Staggers was one of nine surviving children
of South Carolina sharecroppers—
all of whom earned advanced degrees.
To give it perspective: This was in the
pre–civil rights movement segregated
South.
Her mom, Carolyn, a highly intelligent
woman (she started college at 16)
was born to an affluent West Virginia
family—affluent because the Irish slaveholder
who spawned the clan left his
money to his only family, his slave
family.
Carolyn and Frank provided a structured
and loving environment where the
benchmark was “doing well, being the
MANAGER, DOCTOR: (Above) At a working lunch in their conference room, Dr. Staggers meets with her Adolescent Medicine
team, going over department business. (Next page) William, the oldest of Dr. Staggers’ three children, drops in to the office to visit
with mom.
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
best at whatever we wanted to do,” Dr.
Staggers said.
“When I look back on my life, the
reason I was able to do the things I did
and take the challenges I took, was
because my parents always told us we
were respected, we were valued, we were
loved as human beings. I always had
that safety net. I always knew I was
loved. That gave me the freedom to do
what I wanted to do.”
Getting credentials
What she wanted to do, was driven
like a force of nature to do, was adolescent
medicine. That required credentials,
and she set out to get them with the
same passion with which she would one
day attack adolescent health issues.
At the University of California,
Berkeley, she was mentored by Reginald
L. Jones, PhD, pioneer of the discipline
of Black Psychology. Jones and his work
had a huge impact on her—“it affirmed
my identity,” she said—and she almost
followed in his footsteps by applying to
a doctoral psychology program. But
Jones intervened.
“He asked me: ‘Who writes the
medication order—a psychologist or
psychiatrist?’ I said the psychiatrist. ‘So
who has control of the client?’
“He knew getting an MD would
give me more authority.”
She earned her MD at the University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF),
(“Berkeley didn’t have a med school so I
chose the closest one.”) in three years,
and got a Masters of Public Health
degree at Berkeley in her fourth year.
“They told me nobody had ever
done an MPH and an MD in four years
before. Well, I said, that’s not my problem.
“By the time I came to Children’s
Hospital for a residency (in pediatrics), I

had an MPH. I had done community
forums, I had had an opportunity to
expand and grow.”
After her residency, she returned to
UCSF for her Adolescent Medicine fellowship.
Then she came back to
Children’s to practice what she
preached—a holistic view of adolescent
medicine that includes prevention, intervention,
mentoring, youth development,
community involvement, schools, social
service agencies, grandparents, neighbors,
pets and even some good old-fashioned
doctoring.
Adolescent Medicine as public
health issue
“Adolescent healthcare, to me, is
about things that kill teenagers, and these
are public health, not traditional medicine,
issues,” Dr. Staggers explained.
“You have to look at motor vehicle
injuries, homicides, suicides. There’s not a
pill or medicine or an antibiotic for those
three things (which account for 65 percent
of adolescent deaths nationally). I
have to look at what’s going on with a
teen, how they interface with the community,
how the community interfaces with
them.
“My adolescent medicine paradigm is:
Youth development. If you do youth
development right, you do community
development.”
She continues:
“My philosophy of adolescent healthcare
is: Teens are wonderful mirrors of the
society, where we’re either doing really
well or really badly. Right now we’re not
doing things really well. The things that
are killing them are preventable. We have
to ask ourselves, as a community … what
exists out there in the world that puts
them at risk, and how do we as adults
take responsibility for these things?...
That forces a real frank conversation in
the community.”
That’s a conversation Dr. Staggers relishes,
whether it’s in community forums
in Castro Valley, her longtime hometown,
or at speakers forums around the country,
or in physicians’ offices, where she is
often consulted on adolescent health matters,
or in school districts across the state,
or in Sacramento, where she is called
upon to inform policy.
Reaching the community
Today, Dr. Staggers manages a division
that, thanks to her vision, reaches
out into the community to serve underserved
youth, her original goal.
Under her guidance, Children’s has
established two national-model high
school–based health clinics in Oakland,
the Chappelle Hayes Health Clinic at
McClymond’s High School, and Youth
Uprising, next to Castlemont High
School. These are full-fledged medical
and mental health clinics adjacent to two
inner-city high schools, offering at-risk
youth services on their own turf.
Practicing at Children’s
Dr. Staggers gives Children’s a lot of
the credit for the success of her practice.
“The beauty of Children’s is I can do
everything from primary care to quaternary
care—cutting-edge research and cutting-edge
medical care working together—and
cover any part of that spectrum I
need to be involved in. If I feel I need to
WINTER 2007 23
“My philosophy of adolescent healthcare is:
Teens are wonderful mirrors
of the society, where we’re either
doing really well or really badly. Right now
we’re not doing things really well.”
go to the research institute to ask Dr.
Deborah Dean a question about chlamydia
in the lab, I can talk to her about
that. I can get the cutting-edge research.
But I can also talk to a teenager in my
office about doing mentoring and peer
advocacy work to help them all stop getting
chlamydia in the first place. What a
fabulous place to work. I’m really thankful
that I didn’t have to leave my community
to find what I felt was needed in
healthcare.”
President of Medical Staff
Next April, Dr. Staggers will serve
Children’s in a new capacity: as president
of the Medical Staff, an honor for which
she was chosen by her peers.
In April she will also receive the
Regional Healthcare Champions award
from the University of California,
Berkeley, School of Public Health. She’ll
add this to a host of other awards and
honors, including the 2004 Peter E. Haas
Public Service Award from UC Berkeley.
The awards are nice, she acknowledges,
but at the end of the day, it’s the
work itself that moves her.
“I get asked, ‘How come you have
such passion for what you do?’ And I say,
‘Because I love my work. I really do. I
don’t like the stories I hear, but I can’t
really think of anything else I’d rather do.’
“I’m real clear that the only reason I
exist is to do the work I’m doing.”
Call to action:
To contact Dr. Staggers
and Children’s Teen Clinic,
please call 510-428-3387.

24
CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
Children’s to stay in Oakland:
Will rebuild next to current site
PRESS CONFERENCE: Harold Davis, the chair of Children’s Hospital Oakland’s board of directors, made the official announcement of
Children’s rebuilding plans at a Sept. 5 press conference, while Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and City Council President Ignacio De La
Fuente listened.
Children’s Hospital’s board of
directors approved a plan to
keep Children’s Hospital &
Research Center Oakland in Oakland.
The plan calls for rebuilding the hospital
on land adjacent to its current site.
Harold Davis, the board’s chair, made
the announcement Sept. 5 at a press conference
attended by Ron Dellums,
Oakland’s mayor; Ignacio De La Fuente,
Oakland City Council president; and
Jane Brunner, the council member representing
Children’s Hospital’s district.
“Children’s Hospital & Research
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
Center Oakland will remain in
Oakland,” said Harold, “and it will
expand in its current location.”
Mayor Dellums also signaled his
approval. “It’s with extraordinary pleasure
that I witness this announcement that
Children’s Hospital will stay here in
Oakland,” said the mayor.
“First, (because) Children’s Hospital
is an icon in the city of Oakland and in
this region, for its extraordinary service
to children, the most precious resource in
our community. It has demonstrated
tremendous excellence in the treatment
of children. And secondly, (because) this
is a world-class research center as well.”
Rebuilding location and plan
The new hospital will be constructed
on land between 52nd and 53rd streets,
extending west from the curve of
Highway 24 to the east sides of the parking
garage and Outpatient Center. (See
aerial view on page 26.)
Once completed, the new hospital
will increase Children’s capacity from
171 on-site beds to 250 private patient
rooms.

The identified site is about oneand-a-half
acres, which may require
building a 12-story building to accommodate
the hospital’s needs.
Children’s will continue to operate
in its current facility during construction,
expected to begin in 2010. The
project must be completed by 2013 to
meet the state’s deadline for seismic
upgrades.
Paying for rebuilding
Children’s
The project, estimated to cost
about $700 million, will be financed
through three primary sources, Harold
said. First, Children’s has $100 million
in the bank, $73 million of it from
state Proposition 61 funds. A second
statewide children’s hospitals proposition
scheduled for the November 2008
ballot, if successful, will provide
Children’s another $100 million.
Second, the Children’s Hospital &
Research Center Foundation will raise
$150 million through private donations
(see page 28).
Finally, Alameda County voters are
being asked to approve a modest $2 a
month parcel tax on the Feb. 5 presidential
primary ballot. Called Measure
A, the “Special Tax to Support
Children’s Hospital Construction
Program,” it will provide another $300
million (see details in Q&A sidebar).
Campaign to rebuild
Children’s gathered enough signatures
to get its property tax initiative
on the Alameda County ballot. But
A letter from Bertha Wright,
Children’s Hospital’s founder, sent to
Reverend Edward L. Parsons (later
Bishop Parsons), was uncovered last
month in the archives of the Episcopal
Diocese of California. Suzanne
Thompson, the diocese’s archivist, found
the two-page handwritten letter, dated
July 30, 1912. This was before the “Baby
Hospital” opened.
Suzanne notified Children’s
Communications department and forwarded
a copy.
The letter, written on “Charity
Organization Society of America”
stationery, is a chatty note to “Mr.
Parsons,” describing, among other
things, the state of the hospital’s development,
concerns about where it will be
located and who will be in charge.
The following is an excerpt from the
letter:
“Dear Mr. Parsons,
Your card was received this afternoon
and I want to thank you for it. I do so
hope you are being able to rest and not
having to preach the sermons for every
minister for miles about. Ministers and
doctors always seem in demand wherever
they are. Miss Weed (Mabel Weed,
WINTER 2007 25
Letter from Children’s founder uncovered:
“We have the best doctors of Berkeley and
Oakland interested in the project....”
Children’s cofounder) is still away on her
vacation so nothing very thrilling happens
at the office….
The Baby Hospital is getting along
very nicely. We have eight splendid doctors
from Berkeley and will have nine from
Oakland. I have interested Oakland and
Berkeley churches so we have all our
beds. The location still has to be decided
but I think it will be somewhere on the
border between here (Berkeley) and
Oakland….
Dr. McCleave (president of the Charity
Organization’s board) is very anxious to be
“chief in charge” but Miss Weed and I had
a private talk with Mrs. Seabury (one of
the hospital’s founding committee members)
so I guess it will come out all right.
We have the best doctors of Berkeley and
Oakland interested in the project so I
don’t see why it can’t be put right through
now.”
Rev. Parsons spoke at the Baby
Hospital’s dedication on Sept 16, 1914.
Dr. T. C. McCleave was on the medical
staff, but was not its chairman.
Children’s still has the best doctors
in Berkeley and Oakland; everything did
come out all right.
A BIT OF HISTORY: A section of the letter (highlighted) stating, “The Baby Hospital is getting
along very nicely. We have eight splendid doctors from Berkeley and will have nine from
Oakland.”

26 CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
the county board of supervisors asked
Children’s to make some changes in the
measure’s wording.
Children’s agreed; the board
approved the new version and then
placed both versions on the ballot.
While the first version is still on the
ballot, Children’s Hospital is throwing
its full support behind the new version—Measure
A—and asks you to vote
for it.
www.childrenshospitaloakland.org
To win, Measure A requires twothirds
of the electorate to vote yes. If
both measures pass, only the one with
the most votes will become law.
Please vote yes on Measure A, the
“Special Tax to Support Children’s
Hospital Construction Program.”
Listening to neighbors
With any large development project,
communication and collaboration with
the neighborhood are essential.
Why does Children’s Hospital
Oakland need to be rebuilt?
California law requires inpatient areas of
hospitals to be built to withstand strong
earthquakes by 2013. This triggered
Children’s Hospital Oakland’s decision
to rebuild. Rebuilding hospitals periodically
also assures advances in medical
technology are incorporated into the
new or retrofitted buildings. It’s also
important for Children’s, an East Bay
icon since 1912, to be able to meet the
future needs of Northern California’s
growing population of children.
Why does Children’s need to
expand the number of patient
beds?
As Northern California’s population
grows, the number of hospital beds at
Children’s must also grow. For example,
it’s estimated that our core service
area population will grow by about
10 percent by 2014.
When will the new hospital open?
Construction of the new medical center
is expected to begin in 2010 and must
be completed by 2013 to meet the
state’s deadline for seismic upgrades.
How much will a new hospital
cost? How will it be paid for?
Construction is currently estimated to
cost approximately $700 million. The
hospital plans to finance the new
medical center through three primary
sources:
• $200 million in past and future state
bonds, and money in the bank
• $150 million raised through private
donations
• $300 million from a parcel tax
measure on Alameda County’s
February 2008 ballot.
How will the tax measure work?
Measure A, if approved, will raise $300
million over 35 years through a modest
$2 per month ($24 a year) parcel tax on
residential properties in Alameda
County, a $100 per year assessment on
small non-residential properties and
$250 per year for large nonresidential

properties. Homeowners over age 65
and very low-income residents are
exempt from paying the assessment.
The money raised will pay off bonds
used to finance a portion of hospital
construction.
Language in the measure assures that
the funds will be used in Alameda
County and that the county will be
compensated for all expenses in administering
the measure.
What are some of the distinctive
features of the new hospital?
While the plans for the new hospital are
still being developed, the new hospital
will be designed so that all 250 patient
rooms will be private, giving children
and their families more privacy to heal,
and helping control and reduce infection
transmission. Emergency services
will also be improved—with the helipad
on the roof, patients can be taken down
a special elevator directly to the
Emergency Department.
Will the new hospital be a green
building?
The new hospital will incorporate
current best practices in sustainable
design and energy management.
Children’s selected the architectural
firm partly because of their expertise in
delivering sustainable design solutions.
Will there be any disruption to
services while the new hospital
is being built?
Children’s will continue to operate in
its current facility during construction.
There shouldn’t be any disruption or
displacement of services.
What will become of the current
hospital facility?
The current hospital will continue to
be used for services and offices.
Children’s has many clinics and off-site
programs. The hospital anticipates
bringing these back on campus into
the current hospital.
Children’s has already begun holding
community meetings to present the
building project to the hospital’s neighbors,
and to listen to their concerns.
“We realize this building project
will impact our neighbors, and it is our
commitment to preserve their quality
of life as much as possible,” said Mary
Dean, Children’s Hospital’s senior vice
president, external affairs. “To succeed,
this project must be a partnership with
the neighborhood, city and county.”
The hospital board is “committed
to respecting and partnering with our
neighbors as part of the planning
process,” said Frank Tiedemann,
Children’s president and chief executive
officer.
“This is a historic time for our
hospital and the community that
WINTER 2007 27
OUR SUPPORTERS (Left) Ron Dellums,
Oakland’s mayor, praises Children’s for staying
in Oakland. (Below) Jane Brunner and
Ignacio De La Fuente, who have worked
together on the city council for 11 years,
came to the press conference to support
Children’s Hospital.
(Previous page) An aerial view of the hospital
site: The area in orange represents the new
building site.
depends on our services,” said Frank.
“The construction of our new medical
center provides a long-awaited opportunity
to match the excellence of our
medical staff with a superb facility.
We’re treating an increasing number of
children with some of the most complex
and serious illnesses. We need a
new building to give them the best
possible healthcare experience.”
To support
healthcare for kids,
please vote yes on
Alameda County’s
Measure A.

28 CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
A 95-year history of visionary philanthropy a
By Lynn Sagramoso
In 1912, Bertha Wright, an Alameda
County nurse, witnessed the rapid
growth of the East Bay following
the San Francisco earthquake.
Recognizing a need for better healthcare
for the region’s new children, she and
other visionary women founded The
Baby Hospital. It was the first hospital
on the West Coast where equipment
and management would be exclusively
for the care of children, no matter what
their family circumstances.
With the philanthropic support of
the community, churches and neighbors,
the women raised $12,500 to buy
the old McElrath estate at the current
site of the hospital. Because the need
was so pressing, they began seeing
patients in what was once the stable,
while the main building was being renovated.
The practice of medicine and the
delivery of healthcare have undergone
vast changes since then, but the mission
at Children’s Hospital & Research
Center Oakland remains essentially the
same: to ensure delivery of the highestquality
pediatric care to all children.
The mission of philanthropy at
Children’s also remains the same: to
support the medical center so it can
continue serving all children in the
region.
That’s why the Children’s Hospital
& Research Center Foundation will
play a central role in funding construction
of a new hospital by 2013. (For
more about the new hospital, see page
24.)
Children’s has grown and expanded
over the years to meet the needs of the
community it serves, and at every step
of the way, the philanthropic leadership
www.chofoundation.org
ORIGINAL BUILDING—1913
The McElrath mansion housed the first Children’s Hospital,
and its first 30 beds, when it opened in September 1914.
and generosity of the community made
its growth possible.
In 1928, Children’s built a new 50patient
hospital of brick; much of this
building still exists on our campus
today.
Later years saw more population
growth, and Children’s responded by
adding a new patient wing with more
beds and a surgical facility.
Meanwhile, new discoveries and
therapies were revolutionizing medicine,
and in 1959, private support helped
build the Bruce Lyon Memorial
Research Laboratory at Children’s. It
began Children’s involvement in
research to advance new pediatric
knowledge, care and cures.
Private philanthropy was also the
cornerstone of many initiatives in succeeding
decades.
In 1994, the airy Outpatient Center
with its whimsically decorated atrium
opened. It heralded a new, child-friendly
focus to care for thousands of outpatient
visits.
CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL—PRES
Today, Children’s Hospital has 181
visits every year. Children’s philan
In 1999, the research institute
moved to the renovated University
High School building, seven blocks
north of the main campus. It’s now one
of the nation’s top pediatric research
centers in terms of National Institutes
of Health grant funding.
This expansion enables a special collaboration
called translational research,
which brings our scientists and treating
physicians together to find new treatments
and ways to prevent life-threatening
pediatric illnesses.
Work to expand the Emergency
Department was completed in 2003,
allowing Children’s to become a designated
level 1 pediatric trauma center,
and to offer care to over 50,000 seriously
injured and ill patients every year.
To serve other East Bay communities
more effectively, Children’s brought
its pediatric expertise to outlying areas
through satellite physicians’ offices in
Pleasanton, Walnut Creek, Larkspur
and Brentwood. A new satellite is slated
to open in Modesto in March 2008.

at Children’s
RESENT DAY
s 181 beds and receives more than 200,000 patient
ilanthropy will be essential to rebuilding plans.
Children’s is proud to be one of only 45
freestanding children’s hospitals in the nation,
with healthcare designed especially for kids and
their families.
Children’s has the largest pediatric intensive
care unit in Northern California, 166 hospitalbased
physicians in 31 subspecialties, and more
than 200,000 patient visits a year; trains about
78 pediatric residents during each three-year
residency program; and has an intensive care
nursery designated the regional referral center
for high-risk newborns.
The leadership of visionary philanthropic
partners and community support created and
has sustained Children’s for nearly a century.
Together, we have built one of the most comprehensive
pediatric medical centers in the
country.
Inspired by Bertha Wright’s vision 95 years
ago, we will build a state-of-the-art hospital by
2013 for the children of today as well as for
the generations to come.
To learn more about how you can support
this vision, please call the Children’s Hospital
foundation at 510-428-3814, or visit
www.chofoundation.org.
Honorary Chairs
Former President Bill Clinton
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Honorary Committee
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the
House
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Sen. Barbara Boxer
Gavin Newsom, mayor of San
Francisco
Ron Dellums, mayor of Oakland
Yoriko Kishimoto, mayor of Palo
Alto
Elizabeth Edwards
Chairperson
Deborah Strobin
Honorary Co-Chairs
David Alexander, MD
Larry and Pam Baer
Wilkes Bashford
Dr. Ernest A. Bates
Frances F. Bowes
Mark and Susie Buell
Harvey J. Cohen, MD, PhD
Reverend and Mrs. Warren
Debenham
Ray and Dagmar Dolby
Stanlee Gatti
Larry Goldfarb
Richard Goldman
Rich and Judy Guggenhime
WINTER 2007 29
Gala to Help Raise Healthy Children
Benefiting Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland
Help Raise Healthy Children is a
project dedicated to transforming children’s
lives by advocating for healthy
eating, active living and positive life
choices for children. The project raises
money for Children’s
Hospital & Research
Center Oakland, and
other regional medical
centers, to help expand
medical services to children
and families with
weight management
issues, research childhood
obesity and bring
public attention to this
growing problem.
Help Raise Healthy Children is hosting
a black-tie gala on Monday, Jan. 14, 2008
in San Francisco. The star-studded event
begins at San Francisco City Hall with a
dinner created by Alice Waters of Chez
Panisse, followed by a gala show at the War
Memorial Opera House featuring worldclass
entertainment, including Academy
Award winner Jennifer Hudson. Ms.
Hudson first gained notice as one of the
finalists on the third season of the FOX television
series American Idol. She went on to
star in the 2006 musical film, Dreamgirls,
BENEFICIARIES
Children’s Hospital & Research
Center Oakland
Healthy Eating Active Living
Program
Lucile Packard Children’s
Hospital
Center for Healthy Weight
San Francisco General Hospital
Healthy Lifestyle Clinic
The Chez Panisse Foundation
for which she won an Oscar and a
Golden Globe.
Proceeds from the gala will
help support Children’s Healthy
Eating Active Living (HEAL) clinic.
Established in July 2004, the
HEAL clinic is an obesity prevention
and treatment program that
empowers patients and their families
with culturally appropriate
information and tools. HEAL
support enables them to make life-saving
behavior changes, reducing overweightrelated
diagnoses such as type 2 diabetes
and hypertension.
“We are thrilled to be among the beneficiaries
of this first annual gala benefit,” said
Lydia Tinajero-Deck, MD, director of
Children’s Hospital’s HEAL clinic. “We
have an innovative program that combines
obesity treatment, prevention, research and
community outreach to give children the
help they need to maintain a healthy weight
and lifestyle.”
For more information about the gala and to purchase tickets,
call 415-409-4299 or visit www.helpraisehealthychildren.org.
Denise Hale
Michael and Kelly Halper
Susan Halpern
Frank and Wendy Jordan
Dr. David Kessler
Steve and Michele Kirsch
Lois Lehrman
Madeline Levine, PhD
Bertram H. Lubin, MD
Bill and Leigh Matthes
Susan Packard Orr
Sean Penn and Robin Wright
Penn
George and Charlotte Shultz
Frank Tiedemann
Ilie Wacs
Dr. Charles B. Wilson and Frances
Petrocelli

30 CHILDREN’S HANDPRINTS
Ingrid and Dan Sanderman and their son, Tomas, are all smiles after
his surgery. They’re grateful for the good karma and money provided
by generous yoga students in Northern California and Nevada.
Every Wednesday is “karma class”
at Tanya Paul’s three Bikram Yoga
studios: one in the Northern
California mountain town of Truckee,
and two more in Nevada. Believing in
the positive karma of philanthropy, yoga
instructor Ingrid Sanderman joins her
students in donating to a chosen cause
each week during one of her classes.
Little did Ingrid or her husband, Dan,
know that these philanthropic karma
classes would one day help their infant
son, Tomas, receive crucial surgery at
Children’s Hospital & Research Center
Oakland.
“Ingrid noticed right away that something
was wrong with the shape of
Tomas’ head,” said Dan, “so we went to
see our pediatrician in Truckee.” Their
doctor suspected that Tomas had unilateral
coronal craniosynostosis, a serious
condition in which two or more bones
comprising a baby’s skull prematurely
fuse.
“Our pediatrician used to be a surgeon
at Children’s
Hospital Oakland, and
he recommended that
we go there for Tomas’
treatment,” said Dan.
“We did some research
and found that the
Northern California
www.chofoundation.org
Are you a grateful parent?
Join the Grateful Families
program to help support
Children’s Hospital. Call
Katia Merriman at 510-428-
3885, ext. 5025, or visit
www.gratefulfamilies.org.
Good karma
builds happy faces
Craniofacial Center at
Children’s is one of the
leading centers in the
nation, and we wanted
the best for our son.”
So the family made
the trip to Oakland,
and met with Elio
Gizzi, MD, the center’s
medical director. He
confirmed their pediatrician’s
diagnosis and
discussed Tomas’ condition.
“Every baby’s skull is made up of
bones separated by sutures, small gaps
that allow for growth,” explained Dr.
Gizzi. “In a child with craniosynostosis,
one or more of these ‘growth lines’ fuse
prematurely, forcing the skull to expand
in the direction of the remaining open
sutures.”
This can cause a noticeably abnormal
head shape. In Tomas’ case, his left
eye socket had been pushed significantly
lower than the right.
Since a child’s brain grows rapidly—
reaching 70 percent of its adult size in
the first year—surgical release of the
closed suture is necessary to prevent the
psychosocial impacts of facial deformity
and potential tissue damage caused by
constriction of the brain.
Children’s craniofacial center treats
more than 35 cases of craniosynostosis
annually. The center’s team approach to
craniofacial care brings together a panel
of specialists; they customize treatment
plans for each child they
see.
“We met with each of
the specialists to discuss
Tomas’ needs,” Dan
recalled. “There was a neurosurgeon
to make sure
Tomas’ cognitive abilities
By Lynn Sagramoso
wouldn’t suffer, a dentist and ophthalmologist
to evaluate how this might
affect his teeth and vision, and a plastic
surgeon to make sure the outside looks
great. It was scary to think of the
impending surgery, but we were confident
in our team, and knew what to
expect.”
The hardest thing for Ingrid and Dan
was handing 6-month-old Tomas to the
anesthesiologist on the day of the surgery.
“We knew the procedure would
take four hours, and we knew that the
incision in his scalp would zigzag from
one ear to the other so that the doctors
could release the suture and reshape
some of his skull,” Dan said. “We were
very nervous, but the nurses were fantastic,
calling periodically to keep us at
ease.”
Since the family lives in Truckee,
about 175 miles from Oakland, it was a
considerable financial burden to come to
Children’s—with travel, lodging and lost
work time of several days for Tomas’ preand
postoperative care. When the yoga
studio members heard about Tomas’
treatment needs, they decided to donate
a month’s worth of karma class funds
from Tanya Paul’s three studios to help
offset some of the family’s costs. “It
meant so much to us to have the karma
class donations—it helped our family
emotionally and financially,” Ingrid said.
About half of the karma class donations
went towards Tomas’ medical
expenses, but the couple wanted to pass
on the class’ good will, so they donated
the remainder to Children’s. “We are so
grateful that Tomas’ condition has been
corrected and that he won’t require further
operations,” said Dan. “He’s a year
old now, fully recovered, and we can
hardly keep up with him—he’s captain of
the world!”

Children’s
most generous benefactors
honored at
international event
Leading children’s hospital benefactors from the United States
and Canada meet once a year to celebrate their support of pediatric
healthcare; they are members of the Children’s Circle of Care (CCC), an
international honor society founded in 1995.
On May 3, Children’s Hospital Boston hosted 2006 CCC members, honoring
them with a series of exclusive events. Many Children’s Hospital & Research Center
Oakland donors and members from hospital senior leadership were there.
The 2007 North American Leadership Conference & Gala Dinner included presentations
by renowned physicians from pediatric hospitals nationwide at Boston’s
beautiful restored Opera House. The festivities also included a live performance by
the Boston Pops, led by conductor Keith Lockhart, and a black-tie gala featuring a
private concert by Sir Elton John.
Children’s Hospital Denver will host this prestigious annual event—in June 2008
—for those who are members in 2007.
If you are interested in becoming a CCC member or would like more information
about membership, please call Carolyn Otis Catanzaro at 510-428-3885, ext. 7306,
or email her at ccatanzaro@mail.cho.org.
Help ring in the New Year at Children’s!
In the true spirit of the season, all of us at Children’s
Hospital & Research Center Oakland give thanks to
those who have given so generously of their time and
money to support our crucial mission. We couldn’t do it
without you!
Remember, charitable donations to Children’s, postmarked
no later than Dec. 31, 2007, may give you a considerable
benefit at tax time by saving you money on
your income taxes. The IRS encourages those giving to
nonprofit organizations, like Children’s, by offering significant
tax advantages to donors.
More importantly, your gift will help Children’s provide
a standard of healthcare that exceeds the expectations
of every family within our diverse and vibrant community.
Your investment in pediatric health also allows
our research scientists and clinical physicians to advance
breakthrough treatments of cancer, blood diseases and
WINTER 2007 31
Children’s Circle of Care is
grateful to the following
sponsors for their support of
the 2007 North American
Leadership Conference:
Founding Sponsors
Costco Wholesale
The Oki Foundation
Signature Sponsors
Cushman & Wakefield of
Massachusetts, Inc.
Fidelity Investments
Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.
Tudor Investment Corporation
Silver Sponsors
AJ Gallagher
Bank of America
Bentz Whaley Flessner
The H. N. and Frances C. Berger
Foundation
Goldman Sachs
Kintera Inc.
Opus Search Partners
Nixon Peabody
Tsoi/Kobus & Associates
The Westin Boston Waterfront
other life-threatening
illnesses, benefiting
countless children
worldwide.
For more information
about donating to
Children’s, please
call Ken McKinney at
510-428-3885, ext. 2846,
or email him at
Let our patients know you care; send
kmckinney@mail.cho.org. this card with your donation today!
You may also give online at
www.chofoundation.org/donate.
Your gift truly makes a difference. And if you give
before Dec. 31, we will present a special Get Well Soon
holiday card (pictured) in your name, to a hospitalized
child during this holiday season.

Pediatric neurosurgeon Peter Sun, MD,
and the portable CereTom CT scanner.
Only at Children’s Hospital Oakland.
747 52nd Street
Oakland, CA 94609-1809
SM
Undivided attention. Unsurpassed care.
In October, Children’s
Hospital Oakland became
the first and only pediatric
medical center on the West
Coast to own and use a
portable CT scanner.
Now, when the need is
critical, Dr. Sun can bring
the scanner to the child,
minimizing risk and
saving time.
Read more about
Children’s cutting-edge
technology on page 7.
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Oakland, CA
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