Success Stories
Ultimately, the work that we do boils down to stories, inspiring narratives about the challenges faced, successes achieved, and lessons learned by the people working hard every day to improve children's healthcare. We invite you to read on...
Not Just Recordkeeping: Electronic Medical Records Are Improving Services
June 2013
In the CHIPRA Massachusetts Medical Home Initiative, electronic medical records are helping pediatric practices accelerate service delivery, reduce errors and keep patients informed. Read Story >>
Why I Participate: By Parent Chair Trang Neimetz
June 2013
The parent chair for the Texas Ten Step Star Achiever Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative shares her personal story of facing challenges with breastfeeding and what led her to advocate for improved breastfeeding support for families. Read Story >>
Brother Advocates for Change in Sickle Cell Disease Care
June 2013
Dennis McCullum is an outspoken advocate for sickle cell disease, which took his brother when they were children. Through the Working to Improve Sickle Cell Healthcare (WISCH) project, he is finding new ways to help others talk about pain leading to improved care. Read Story >>
Key to Autism Access Answer Lives in Community Physicians
June 2013
Donna Murray, senior director of the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network, shares how teams in the Collaborative to Improve Care for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder project are making strides in addressing access issues. Read Story >>
Why I Participate: By Parent Partner Wendy Hewitt
May 2013
When her son Ruger did not pass his newborn hearing screening test, Wendy Hewitt was sent through a complex maze of specialists to get her son the care he needed. Now, 11 years later, Hewitt is an active parent advocate and parent partner in NICHQ’s Improving Hearing Screening & Intervention Systems project. Read Story >>
How Texas is Tackling Low Breastfeeding Rates
May 2013
Longtime breastfeeding advocate and faculty advisor to NICHQ’s Texas Ten Step Star Achiever Breastfeeding Learning Collaborative, Pamela Berens, MD, discusses what the Lone Star State is doing to help more moms breastfeed. Read Story >>
Outgrowing Pediatrics Without the Growing Pains
May 2013
Pediatric medical practices in the CHIPRA Massachusetts Medical Home Initiative are starting early to help adolescents—along with their parents and new doctors—make smooth transitions to adult care. Read Story >>
Slow and Steady Breastfeeding Education Wins Over Moms
May 2013
Hospitals in the Best Fed Beginnings initiative are educating moms on breastfeeding and providing support in three stages: during pregnancy, in the hospital and after discharge. The result: higher breastfeeding rates. Read Story >>
Goodbye Nursery, Hello Rooming-in
April 2013
Hospitals participating in the Best Fed Beginnings initiative are moving away from traditional nurseries and keeping mothers and babies together 24 hours a day, a practice known as “rooming-in.” One hospital went from 10 percent to 100 percent rooming-in in less than a year. Read Story >>
Patient ‘Navigators’ Help Manage Care and Overcome Social Obstacles for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease
April 2013
The Colorado team in the Working to Improve Sickle C ell Healthcare (WISCH) project has developed a patient navigator program to help patients with sickle cell disease find primary care physicians and overcome social obstacles that interfere with healthcare. Read Story >>
Reshaping the Obesity Discussion
April 2013
Motivational interviewing (MI), a counseling approach first used to treat people with alcoholism and substance abuse, is now finding practical application in helping to combat obesity. Robert Schwartz, MD, a faculty advisor to NICHQ’s Mass in Motion Kids project, discusses how providers can use MI to engage patients in healthy behavior change. Read Story >>
Putting Insomnia to Bed for Children with Autism
April 2013
The Toronto team in NICHQ’s Collaborative to Improve Care for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders is working to educate families of children with autism on the best ways to reduce insomnia. Read Story >>
Why I Participate: Parent Partner Tonya Bowman
March 2013
Nearly 18 months after Tonya Bowman gave birth prematurely, her daughter, Jasmyn, was diagnosed with hearing loss. Thus began Tonya’s journey to becoming a professional parent advocate and a parent partner in NICHQ’s Improving Hearing & Intervention Systems project. Read Story >>
Practices Improve Constipation Treatment for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
March 2013
As participants in NICHQ’s Collaborative to Improve Care for Children with Autism, the quality improvement team at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles has made important gains in developing a treatment plan for addressing constipation in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Read Story >>
How One Hospital Dramatically Increased Breastfeeding Rates
February 2013
Stony Brook University Hospital raised its exclusive breastfeeding rates from 10 percent to 40 percent by overcoming two essential hurdles: leadership and staff buy-in. The hospital’s new goal is to reach 60 percent. Read Story >>
Sustaining Improvements in Hearing Screening
February 2013
Wisconsin’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program Director Elizabeth Seeliger, MD, found that her state used to struggle with changing its complex system. But after participating in NICHQ’s first hearing screening improvement project six years ago, she has become a devoted quality improvement advocate. Read Story >>
Technology Improves Sickle Cell Disease Care Beyond the Clinic
February 2013
From text reminders to self-monitoring pill bottles, healthcare providers in the Working to Improve Sickle Cell Healthcare (WISCH) project are using technology to improve care for patients with sickle cell disease when they leave the doctor’s office. Read Story >>
Immediate Skin-to-Skin Contact Boosts Breastfeeding Rates
January 2013
Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital is one of 89 hospitals participating in Best Fed Beginnings to help improve their maternity care and achieve Baby-Friendly Designation. As part of the project, they are working to fulfill the World Health Organization's 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, and one of the steps is helping mothers initiate breastfeeding within an hour of birth. Read Story >>
Mom Chats and Letters from Kids: Wyoming Team Provides Support to Families with Hearing Loss
January 2013
In Wyoming, a vast state with a population of only about 550,000, the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Program faces a challenge particular to rural areas: families whose children are diagnosed with hearing loss sometimes have a hard time getting the support they need. Read Story >>
Q&A with Dr. Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, NICHQ Faculty Member and President of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana
December 2012
Dr. Ohene-Frempong, the Director Emeritus of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, talks with NICHQ about the importance of sickle cell screening and disparities between the US and abroad. Read Story >>
Transitioning Into a Patient-Centered Medical Home
December 2012
With a year under their belts as part of the CHIPRA Massachusetts Medical Home Initiative, 13 pediatric practices are transforming their offices into patient-centered medical homes. Read Story>>
Texting to Help Families with Sickle Cell Disease
November 2012
A quality improvement team in Missouri checks in remotely and in-person to help children with the blood disorder. Read Story >>
Q&A with Dr. Dan Coury, Faculty Chair of NICHQ’s Improving Autism Collaborative
November 2012
Dr. Coury discusses how working closely with families can improve systems that deliver care for children with autism. Read Story >>
States See Improvement in Infant Hearing Screening and Follow-Up
October 2012
States across the country are improving diagnosis, early intervention (EI) services and support for families with infants who have hearing loss through NICHQ’s Improving Hearing Screening and Intervention Systems (IHSIS) project. Read Story >>
Kids Who Can't Wait to Eat Greens
September 2012
During NICHQ's Be Our Voice childhood obesity project, the team from Brewton, AL, worked to bring generations together through a common cause: gardening. Read Story >>
Q&A with Lynnie Reid, passionate champion for people living with Sickle Cell Disease
September 2012
Lynnie Reid went from being a young mother who knew nothing about sickle cell disease to becoming a passionate champion for people affected by the blood disorder. Read Story >>
Treating Pain More Quickly for Children with Sickle Cell Disease at BMC
September 2012
Healthcare providers at the Boston Medical Center (BMC) have slashed in half the time it takes to deliver pain medications to sickle cell patients seeking help in the pediatric emergency department (ED), and they did it in just over a year. Read Story >>
Best Fed Beginnings: Helping Hospitals Support Breastfeeding
August 2012
The largest birthing facility in Rhode Island—and one of the largest in the country—is aiming to become “Baby Friendly” through participation in NICHQ's Best Fed Beginnings initiative. Read Story >>
Q&A with Dr. Lori Feldman-Winters
August 2012
The Faculty Chair of NICHQ’s Best Fed Beginnings initiative discusses why breastfeeding is important and why hospitals find it challenging to fully support. Read Story >>
Parents Help Revamp Autism Treatment Center
July 2012
In Portland, Oregon, a “Family Advisory Committee” helps autism specialists deliver more accessible care. Read Story >>
Reflections on Childhood Obesity in Mississippi
July 2012
Dr. Gerri Cannon Smith is uniquely positioned to comment on the declining rates of childhood obesity in Mississippi and the role that the Be Our Voice project may have played. Read Story >>
New Tennessee Center Offers Affordable Care to Sickle Cell Patients
June 2012
A team of healthcare specialists is working to coordinate care, reduce ER visits, and spread awareness. Read Story >>
Kentucky Be Our Voice Team Continues to Fuel a Statewide Movement
May 2012
In 2009 Kentucky was one of 8 sites chosen to participate in Phase 1 of Be Our Voice. Now, the team and its trained advocates have become a powerful local force that is affecting state politics and healthcare. Read Story >>
The Power of Collaboration
April 2012
Pediatric practices work together to transform into medical homes. Read Story >>
Cristin Lind’s Story
February 2012
A Parent Partner for the Massachusetts Medical Home Initiative finds a professional calling in advocacy for children with special needs. Read Story >>
Bringing the Parent's Perspective to Quality Improvement
October 2011
Janet DesGeorges is a professional parent. Read Story >>
