Ascension ends desflurane use 2 CommonSpirit alliance 3 Executive changes 8 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
JANUARY 2025 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 1
ALL IN THE
Natural beauty, mission anchor father and son surgeons in South Dakota
FAMILY
An extended family cares for patients at an SSM Health hospital in Wisconsin. Twins who are nurses tend to delicate newborns in the same neonatal intensive care unit where they were born at a Hospital Sisters Health System hospital in Illinois. They and other relatives who are colleagues share their stories about how working together brings a special joy to their lives. Pages 4-5
By LISA EISENHAUER
F
amily dynasties aren’t rare in Pierre, South Dakota. Cattle ranches, body shops, plumbing services and other businesses get passed down through generations. Brandt Becker says it’s no big deal that even in a town of about 14,000 he and his father, Eldon, are surgeons in the same place, Avera St. Mary’s Hospital. The Beckers are one of the newer dynasties. Eldon came to the capitol city right out of residency in 1989 and stayed. He grew up in North Dakota and broke a Brandt and Eldon Becker are surgeons at Avera St. Mary's Hospital in Pierre, South Dakota.
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SPECIAL CARE FOR KIDS AND TEENS
‘Forgotten mourners’
Bon Secours program helps kids cope with grief By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
When Jacob Solis comes into a patient’s room at CHRISTUS Children’s in San Antonio with his cart of video games, their eyes brighten. They know he’s there to distract them, challenge them, relax them or get them moving. Solis is the hospital’s first and only gaming and technology specialist, a role he has had for almost a year. “Just seeing how they light up once I finish the gaming session, or even when I walk into the room, they just get all excited,” he says.
Eruptions are meant to happen inside the volcano room. Kids who enter the space on a church campus in Newport News, Virginia, can vent their emotions by bouncing on mini trampolines, throwing balls, jumping on pogo sticks, and smacking pool noodles on the floor to make a satisfying “thwack.” They also can drag around an oversized stuffed doll named Max. “He’s bigger than me, and they can just absolutely beat him up,” said Ariane Walter. “And they love that.” Walter is the bereave- Walter ment and volunteer coordinator for a group called KIDZ’NGRIEF, a ministry supported by Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News, part of Bon Secours
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Jacob Solis plays video games with a patient at CHRISTUS Children’s in San Antonio, where Solis is the hospital’s first gaming and technology specialist.
CHRISTUS Children’s ‘Gaming Guy’ entertains, refocuses patients to smooth their roads to recovery
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
Covenant Children’s adds classroom so long-term patients can keep up with studies By DALE SINGER
When 12-year-old Abigail was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, she and her family had to deal with not just serious health implications but long periods out of school, missing out on learning and being with friends.
“Just laying in your bed and watching TV is not always great,” said her mother, Elizabeth Martin. “You need to get up and get that body moving and get your brain moving.” Abigail and other patients undergoing long-term treatment at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, can ease
the boredom and inactivity in a special schoolroom built by the hospital. It is modeled after an effort at another Providence St. Joseph Health location, Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane, Washington. The educational liaison there, Anna E. Christensen, said the hospital realized that medical attention is not the only need for
children undergoing long-term treatment and care. “They’re here in the hospital,” she said. “They can’t attend school due to chemo, and they’re having huge gaps in their education. So that’s why this program was designed.” Continued on 7