‘Amazing experience.’ Penn State Health physician leads medical team at 2019 Special Olympics World Games
Dr. Peter Seidenberg pauses for a photo with two members of the Hungarian roller skating team after treating the athlete on the left for an injury.
By Jen Vogelsong
As team physician for Penn State’s football and softball teams, Dr. Peter Seidenberg is used to making on-the-spot medical calls – but none quite like the life-changing decisions he made as chief medical officer at the 2019 Special Olympics World Games last March.
“It was definitely an amazing experience,” said Seidenberg, a Penn State Health family and sports medicine physician in State College who has been lending his sports medicine expertise to Special Olympics for almost 20 years. In his latest post, he led a medical team responsible for more than half a million people, including 7,000 athletes from 194 countries, support staff, country delegations and spectators.
And the beat goes on…heart transplant patients, surgeons reunite
By Carolyn Kimmel
To Constance Murray, heart transplantation sounded like something out of science fiction movie – one she certainly didn’t care to star in.
It was 1986, and Murray had struggled for more than a year with shortness of breath when she climbed stairs or walked even a short distance. Her symptoms were steadily worsening.
When a diagnosis of congestive cardiomyopathy was made, Murray faced two choices – medications that had about a 1% chance of working or a heart transplant.
“Heart transplant surgery was new then,” the New Cumberland resident said. “I had read about people dying after it. I said ‘no.’ I couldn’t handle the thought of that.”
Things only worsened.
First-year medical students provide hands-on care to people of Panama
Penn State College of Medicine students who worked on the island of San Cristobal pose for a photo.
By Jennifer Vogelsong
Grant Wandling had never left the U.S. before an April trip that had him sleeping in hammocks, making due with no running water and providing medical care to the indigenous Ngabe people of Panama.
He was one of 20 first-year medical students at Penn State College of Medicine who completed their primary care preceptorship on the remote islands of Panama’s Bocas del Toro province. Drs. Bill and Eileen Hennrikus, both professors at the College of Medicine, led the 10-day trip with eight other professors.
“It really reminds you that there are people outside of the United States who are in great need of treatment,” Wandling said. “We not only saw a lot of medical problems, we also saw another culture.”
The Hennrikus couple began leading the Panama trips seven years ago when students requested it so they could gain experience in international health without committing to Penn State College of Medicine’s four-year global health curriculum. It has grown into an accredited medical school course.
When the patient is the teacher, the lesson is compassion
Penn State College of Medicine students Matthew Chapman, left, and Yuriy Pechenyy talk to Maria English, a longtime participant in the Patients as Teachers program.
By Carolyn Kimmel
Matthew Chapman was nervous – even scared – when he thought about meeting his first patient face-to-face.
The first-year Penn State College of Medicine student soon found out he had nothing to fear.
“After going for the first time with my partner, I loved it,” said Chapman, who is part of the College of Medicine’s Patients as Teachers Project that pairs first-year students with established patients for one-on-one mentoring. “I think this will help give another perspective on what our patients have to deal with, besides just following medical advice.”
An artificial heart saved my life: LVAD patients and families share stories at reunion
Al Dolatoski and his wife Joyce sing their rendition of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” during the LVAD Celebration of Life.
By Bonnie Adams
Al Dolatoski felt short of breath and just didn’t feel well on Dec. 16, so his wife took him to an area hospital. There, he suffered a massive heart attack and underwent emergency heart bypass surgery.
Joyce Dolatoski remembers the panic she felt when he repeatedly coded in the intensive care unit and was resuscitated five times. She was relieved when told that he was being flown to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
The couple told their story at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s annual Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD) Reunion on April 26. The six patients who attended share a history of severe heart failure that required an LVAD to pump blood throughout their bodies. About the size of a D battery, the devices can be used as a bridge to a heart transplant or as an alternative to transplant.
In your corner: Pediatric Complex Care team advocates for children with multiple medical needs
Dr. Laura Murphy greets 8-year-old Brinda Rizal of Harrisburg during an appointment as her mother, Basudha, looks on.
By Carolyn Kimmel
Ask Dina Gonzalez about her son Alejandro’s diagnosis, and she has no specific answer.
The list of health challenges the 10-year-old boy faces, however, numbers at least eight items – seizure disorder, cortical visual impairment, chronic lung disease among them – and managing them is daunting.
“Dealing with the doctors can be hard,” the Lebanon mother said. “A lot of them are good at what they do, but they have tunnel vision for their own specialty, and they don’t take into account all of Alejandro’s conditions and medications.”
Her son uses a wheelchair and requires 24/7 monitoring. Gonzalez says she often feels like a prisoner to his frequent, respiratory-compromising seizures – which require her to give oxygen, stimulation to the chest and rescue breaths.
Worrying about whether insurance will continue to pay for his medical equipment, coordinating all his speech, occupational and physical therapy with specialist appointments and finding time for her older son pose a constant challenge.
Enter Dr. Laura Murphy and the Pediatric Complex Care team at Penn State Children’s Hospital.
National Brain Bee creates buzz for next generation of neuroscientists
Cedar Cliff High School junior Thussentham Walter-Angelo, winner of the 2019 Central PA Regional Brain Bee, answers a question during the 2019 USA National Brain Bee.
By Carolyn Kimmel
Thussentham Walter-Angelo remembers the question from a second-grade school report: What do you want to be when you grow up? His answer then was the same as today – a neurosurgeon.
“I was always interested in neuroscience,” the Cedar Cliff High School junior said. “There’s just so much to learn and not a lot that’s known. This competition is a great way to prove yourself.”
Walter-Angelo, who won the 2019 Central PA Regional Brain Bee sponsored by the Central PA Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, was one of 56 contestants at the 2019 USA National Brain Bee Championship April 12 to 14 at Penn State College of Medicine on the campus of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
April 24, 2019 at 10:00 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
