Wellness, revolutionized. - Children's Hospital Central California

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9
Powered by people.
The practice of medicine is a science, and to the average healthcare
consumer, it can be fairly esoteric. The nightly news shows us every
new discovery, medication and test available, and we put great faith
in advanced medical technology. The 10 o’clock dramas portray the
miracles of DNA matching, the clues you get from the human body,
and miracle-cure stories based on real events (names changed to
protect the innocent, of course). On the 11 o’clock news you watch
reports of medical applications gone wrong, drugs recalled. The
wealth of unfiltered information begins to cloud over a common
personal healthcare question – who should you trust?
That is a key question, not just for obvious reasons, but because
of how it is constructed. When you ask “who”, you’re not asking
about a machine, a drug or a procedure. You’re asking about a
person or group of people. As astounding as medical technology
has become – and it is astounding – the key factor in all medicine
practiced in the world today is still the people who practice it.
At Children’s Hospital Central California, we invest in technology
and understand its transforming nature. We invest far
more in people, though, because it’s their expertise that turns
the raw data of a machine into a diagnosis. It is trained human
cognition that understands what a five-year-old means when she
holds her side and says, “I hurt right here.” It’s human compassion
that both searches for the cause of that pain, and comforts the
In an advancing and scientific workplace,
“people helping people” is still the greatest
healing technology you’ll encounter.
child who has it. And it’s the pure spirit
of caring that makes that compassion a
common thread through our inpatient
units, surgical practices, outreach facilities,
administrative offices, hallways and
anywhere you find a Children’s Hospital
employee.
“You’ll notice,” said Diane Civiello,
director of Children’s Pediatric Intensive
Care Unit, “… that kids never draw us
pictures of machines.”
As an organization, it is our responsibility
to care for the people who care for
your children. It is also our responsibility
to recruit the best physicians, nurses,
health professionals and support staff
available. We do that in many ways, from
a compensation philosophy and stimulating
environment that makes sure we
are the greenest pasture, to a core value
of education and advancement that gives
employees opportunities to challenge
themselves and promote their careers.
Volunteers are a big part of Children’s Hospital.
We have over 500 selfless individuals who give
their time to help our kids. Every year the people
in the purple aprons do the work of 20 full-time
employees, and they do it for nothing more than
the joy of helping a child.
It’s human
compassion that
both searches for the
cause of pain and
comforts the child
who has it.
Our people also take part personally
in creative problem solving, as evidenced
by our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit’s
inspired methods to recruit more nurses
into the challenging critical care setting.
Physicians find strong collaborative
surroundings at Children’s, and a caseload
drawn from a region that covers
nearly a third of one of the largest states
in the nation. And more than 500 Valley
residents choose to work here for free,
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