The healing power of - Cook Children's

Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to create the program inAdam’s memory.As the fall sports seasons begin throughout Texas, focusshould again be placed on the sports electrocardiogram(EKG) and to make sure that schools are properly equippedwith AEDs.“At Cook Children’s, we place a great emphasis onprevention, and Project ADAM is a great way to make surethat kids throughout Texas are provided with the necessaryequipment to make sure they survive cardiac arrest,” saidDeborah Schutte, M.D., medical director of Cardiologyat Cook Children’s Heart Center. “We are so proud to beassociated with such a great program.”When joining Project ADAM Texas, schools receiveconsultation with pediatric health care professionals fromCook Children’s Heart Center who help:• Provide schools with thoroughly-researched informationand individual consultation on how to prevent sudden cardiacdeath in the school setting.• Educate doctors, coaches, school nurses and otheradults who work with children on recognizing the signs andsymptoms of undiagnosed cardiac conditions.• Assist with CPR/AED instruction and implementing anemergency action plan.• Serve as an ongoing resource for public accessdefibrillation (PAD) program coordinators, which work tomake sure AEDs are available where large groups assemble.“Training in CPR, having an AED and an emergencyaction plan will strengthen each link in the chain of survivaland have the potential to save the greatest number oflives,” Friend said. “It is Sarah’s life that has inspired me tohelp other families have the life-saving information that wedidn’t have.”Project ADAM Texas is a free service offered byCook Children’s Medical Center to help schools in allcommunities. Your donation supports our efforts to increasegeneral awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, as well as howto respond to it.For more information, call Project ADAM Texas at682-885-6755.SPORTSSymposiumIn line with the focus on prevention that Dr. Schuttementioned, Cook Children’s hosted the third annual SPORTS(Sports Performance Orthopedic Rehab Team Specialists)Symposium for health care personnel and school-basedprofessionals on June 29.The symposium focused on the young athlete and wasdesigned for first responders: school nurses (elementarythrough high school) and athletic trainers of both school andselect sports teams. Physical/occupational therapists that workwith young athletes benefit from learning new or improvingevaluation skills and evidence-based treatment ideas.Speakers at the event brought Cook Children’s expertisein caring for younger athletes and included Cook Children’sspecialists from SPORTS Rehab, Orthopedics, the HeartCenter, Craniofacial and Cleft Surgery, Pediatric Surgery,Neurology and Neuropsychology.“We are specially trained to recognize the uniqueness ofchildren and adolescents in regards to their growing bones and thehypermobility of their joints,” Dana Harrison, PT, MPT,Cook Children’s SPORTS program manager.” We appreciate themany other demands on their bodies such as school schedules,training schedules and social demands. We are trained to workwith kids, not only from the physical, but from the psychologicalperspective as well. We understand normal and abnormaldevelopment, and take individual patient’s maturation levelsinto consideration. The SPORTS Symposium is a great way topass along our knowledge and hopefully prevent injury in youngathletes.”At the symposium, participants were educated on how to:• Respond to medical emergencies that happen to youngathletes during practice and sporting events.• Recognize the signs and symptoms of the female athlete triad.• Identify factors that lead to higher incident of anterior cruciateligament injuries.• Recognize common eating disorders among young athletes.• Prevent facial, abdominal, cardiac and orthopedic injuries.www.cookchildrens.org | Fall 2011 11