Wellness, revolutionized. - Children's Hospital Central California

2009 top volunteers.
Volunteer Hours
1. Warren Higginbotham 1,521
2. Joanne Merchant 966
3. Beverly Walters 890
4. Nicanor Garcia 680
5. Jeff McAdoo 481
6. Jim Etherton 415
7. Leslie Chavez 359
8. Brenda Pretzer 356
9. Amber Vanderville 350
10. Shirley Provencher 338
People powered.
Healthcare is a service industry, a customer-driven
experience. But our customers are children, and we
know that they deserve not just the best care possible,
but the most compassionate care. We believe in a team
that is strong enough to stand up with the biggest
names in the industry, and caring enough to get down
on our knees to speak eye-to-eye with a child. Talented
enough to battle illness and injury and win more often
than not, and smart enough to know that the fight
is never over, that we can always get better. We have
an incredible facility filled with state-of-the-art technology,
but without the people, it would all be in vain.
Children’s Hospital Central California comes alive
and provides incredible care because it is powered by
amazing people.
More about the power of people . . .
Paul Talanoa never thought
he would be working for the
pediatric hospital that saved
his life as an infant.
Born in 1981, three
months premature and
weighing 1 pound 7 ounces,
Talanoa was a twin, though
his twin brother passed away
a few days after birth.
“I didn’t know who the
doctors and nurses were that
saved my life until I started
working at Children’s,” said
Talanoa. “It wasn’t until I
spoke with them that it sunk
in.”
Talanoa paid a visit to
the doctor who cared for
him after birth, Dr. Nadarasa
Visveshwara (Dr. Vish),
program director of newborn
medicine at Children’s.
“The reason I remember
him so well is because of all of
the misfortunate events that
happened on the way to help
him,” said Dr. Vish.
Now that’s a
positive outcome.
Dr. Vish had been on his
way home when he received
an urgent page. He rushed to
the nearest payphone – as cell
phones weren’t around yet –
but it didn’t work. Hurrying
to the next payphone, he
responded to the page.
Detoured by an oil spill, then
delayed by a train crossing, he
finally made it to the rescue.
With breathing tubes in
place, Talanoa was brought to
Children’s Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit (NICU).
“The more premature
they are, the more immature
their systems are. We support
each of their systems until
their body is strong enough to
take over on its own,” said Dr.
Vish. “It’s the whole team,
respiratory therapists, nurses
and nutritionists.”
At the time, survival
rates for neonates like Paul
were less then 50 percent.
A bedside nurse in the
NICU at the time, JoAnn Sindt
was part of the team that
cared for Talanoa.
“We were affected even
more than usual because he
was the surviving twin,” said
Sindt, now a charge nurse in
the Hospital’s 88-bed NICU
at the main campus. “His
lungs collapsed more than
once because they were so
immature.”
Talanoa spent nearly
three months in an incubator
on a breathing machine, fed
through a tube. Gradually
his body became stronger
and he was able to go home
to his parents Jan and Nano
Talanoa.
“For a baby of that size
to grow up with no complications
is a big deal for us,” said
Dr. Vish.
Talanoa’s life came fullcircle
September 10, 2001
when he began working at
Children’s. Now 28, Talanoa
is a technical support analyst,
troubleshooting computer
issues and managing network
resources.
“If Children’s wasn’t here,
I wouldn’t be here either,”
said Talanoa.
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