Patients find this prescription for therapy is music to their ears
Marissa Aulenbach, right, a board-certified music therapist at Penn State Children’s Hospital, plays her guitar while registered nurse Lauren Libhart tends to 4-month-old Caden Hoover during his stay for a heart condition.
By Carolyn Kimmel
After 12 days in the hospital, Hershey resident Anita Heckert could tell her optimism was waning, so when her occupational therapist suggested music therapy, she was game.
“To have someone come and spend time with me that didn’t involve needles, drawing blood or an MRI was very appealing,” said Heckert who was in Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center for complications due to colon cancer.
As Jan Stouffer, board-certified music therapist with the Music Therapy Program at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, quietly played guitar, she gave Heckert an ocean drum to play.
Hundreds of small ball bearings in the drum combined to sound like gentle waves at low tide coming across the sand—and transported Heckert back to a happy day years ago when she and her sister, each with their small sons, visited Assateague Island and frolicked on the beach with six wild ponies splashing nearby.
As Stouffer encouraged her to remember the strong and faithful mother she had been in that moment, she reminded her, “That person still exists—you are that person.” The encounter served as a turning point in Heckert’s emotional outlook.
February 13, 2019 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Listening, connecting are hallmarks of new president’s style
Deborah Berini, president of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, says she was drawn to Penn State Health by its collaborative environment.
By Carolyn Kimmel
Dressed in scrubs and leaning in to smile reassuringly at a baby and his parents, Deborah Berini is doing what she likes best—connecting with people.
The president of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is shadowing Cara Kapaun, a registered nurse in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
“It allows me to be present in the environment, get to know the people, see what is working and what isn’t—and all of that allows me to be a better advocate for our patients, staff and faculty,” said Berini, who took over the helm at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in September, becoming its first female president.
See more photos of Hershey Medical Center President Deborah Berini on Flickr. (more…)
February 6, 2019 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Destination safety: teen driver education a priority at Penn State Children’s Hospital
A teen boy experiences the dangers of distracted and impaired driving through the simulation-based program One Simple Decision.
By Carolyn Kimmel
Penn State Children’s Hospital pediatrician Dr. Erich Batra and his daughter had a special date with an important goal last fall—to drive safer and smarter.
The pair were part of the first Alive at 25 driver’s awareness course presented by the Penn State Trauma Community Outreach team. Designed by the National Safety Council, the course teaches drivers age 15 to 21 and their parents strategies for keeping safe on the road and tackles decision-making and responsibility-taking.
“My daughter is a very good driver, but I felt like the course would be a good reminder for her and for myself,” Batra said. “Any opportunity we have to reinforce what good driving behavior looks like is worth it, and teens need to hear it from someone other than their parents or driving instructor.”
See more photos of the Alive at 25 course on Flickr.
January 30, 2019 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Building confidence one internship at a time
The Project SEARCH Class of 2018 at Penn State College of Medicine. From top-left to right are Bryce Boyer, Cheyanne Wilson, James Silver, Ava Pyles, Ethan Parrish, Marissa Nice, Emily Swanic, James Morrison and Samantha Brace.
By Carolyn Kimmel
For the first time, 18-year-old Cheyanne Wilson says she feels noticed for who she really is—and encouraged to become all that she can be.
“I always felt different my whole life—this is the first time that people look at me like I’m a person,” said Cheyanne, who is spending the school year as a Penn State Health intern through Project Search, a program with more than 500 sites across the globe that teaches students with disabilities transferrable, marketable skills in a real work setting.
The Harrisburg youth is challenged by her internship in the Penn State College of Medicine Clinical Simulation Center and excited about upcoming internships in endoscopy and patient transport before she walks across the stage in Junker Auditorium at the Project Search graduation in May.
“Everyone here takes time to help me learn and not just push me through to get me out of here,” Cheyanne said. “Project Search has helped me a lot.”
January 23, 2019 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Unintentional pioneer: Tim Card is Penn State Cancer Institute’s first patient in cutting-edge cancer treatment
Hours after his CAR-T cell therapy infusion, Tim Card and his wife, Tricia, walk the hallways of Penn State Cancer Institute.
By Carolyn Kimmel
Looking back, there were clues that Tim Card would soon be fighting for his life—his body was sending signals that he was misreading.
Because who would ever think a 40-year-old owner of a CrossFit gym and father of seven suddenly would have an aggressive form of cancer?
“I knew I was ‘off,’ but I couldn’t pinpoint it, and it wasn’t all the time. I figured I was just tired,” the Mount Joy resident said, recalling how he felt in September 2017. Then, a month later, he got a pain in his side that wouldn’t go away and finally took him to the ER. Had he pulled a muscle? Eaten something that didn’t agree with him?
Five biopsies later, the unfathomable was suddenly real: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, centered on his left side with cancerous lymph nodes above and below his diaphragm.
January 16, 2019 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Penn State mounts broad attack on opioid addiction in Pennsylvania
Captain Jennifer Fan of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention discusses new substance abuse prevention initiatives at Penn State College of Medicine’s Addiction Symposium.
By Katherine Brind’Amour
A startling 13 to 16 people die each day in Pennsylvania due to opioid overdose, among the more than 70,000 Americans who succumbed to the epidemic in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That gives Pennsylvania the dubious distinction of being ranked near the top of opioid-related death rates in the U.S.
“Alcoholism is still the most common substance use disorder, but it has been eclipsed by the opioid crisis because people are dying,” says Dr. Sarah Kawasaki, medical director of the Advancement and Recovery opioid addiction treatment program at Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute. “It’s killing people in the prime of their lives. Children are without parents. The number of deaths is what makes this epidemic so important.”
That’s why the clinicians, researchers and administrators with Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine have united to fight the opioid crisis. Their weapons are evidence-based clinical treatment, research and education, and they are aiming at every phase of the problem ― from pre-addiction through treatment and recovery.
January 9, 2019 at 11:51 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Leadership Academy expands horizons of emerging leaders
Dr. Thomas Ma, front row, right, Department of Medicine chair, talks to Holly Roush, operations director of the Penn State Heart and Vascular Institute, during a strategic leadership session at the Leadership Academy.
By Carolyn Kimmel
From his clinical and academic vantage points, Dr. Todd Felix didn’t realize how much today’s competitive health care marketplace impacts the mission of Penn State Health.
After spending five eight-hour days at the Leadership Academy of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine, the assistant dean for clinical medicine in the Department of Family and Community Medicine understood the challenges much more clearly and found himself better able to lead.
“I got a much broader view of Penn State Health’s strategic plan, which is very helpful,” Felix said.
As a leader of a group of physician educators in multiple departments, all with different priorities and experiences, he sees change as inevitable.
“This course helped me see the importance of style preference among my team—originators full of new ideas to conservers dedicated to keeping things running smoothly—to be successful in implementing change and staying relevant, current and visionary in the education mission,” he said.
December 19, 2018 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
