Published: September 27, 2008 08:07 pm      

Jeffersonville family grateful for children’s hospital

David Moore had to have heart surgery a week after he was born in May 2005. And that was just one of three to come.

At first his chances for survival were slim. The day of his first surgery, his mother Tammy said, “we thought he was going to die.”

But his physicians and nurses at Kosair Children’s Hospital were able to save his life, as they have saved many more before and since.

David was born with a congenital heart defect, and Kosair is the only hospital in the region with a Congenital Heart Center. Since 2005, David has been in and out of the hospital, and Tammy has come to feel his medical team as more of a family than a handful of doctors.

“I’m a nurse in the adult world and we’re dedicated, but it is nothing like the care and dedication at Kosair,” Tammy said. “There’s just such an air of potential.

“They’re excellent at what they do.”

The 116-year-old hospital was the second hospital to successfully transplant a neonatal heart and has one of the best survival rates in the country at 98 percent. With the fifth largest neonatal intensive care unit, the hospital sees about 100,000 children a year.

Southern Indiana children, like David, who lives in Jeffersonville, account for about 15,000 patients of the 60 percent that the hospital treats outside the Louisville Metro area.

David had his third, and final, heart surgery last month and is recovering. With so much hospital experience at such a young age, David and Tammy know a lot about Kosair. And Tammy has been heavily involved in his care at the hospital — the doctors and nurses make sure she is allowed to be.

“They’re so good about keeping the family involved,” Tammy said. “As a parent you need to feel involved in your child’s care.”

Kosair’s emphasis on family involvement is part of the reason for the launch of its $208 million “Just for Kids” campaign Thursday. It is the hospital’s first major philanthropic campaign in its history.

The not-for-profit Norton Healthcare, Kosair’s parent company, is donating $100.7 million, and $93.8 million will come from the Kosair Children’s Hospital Foundation through private donations. Kosair Charities has committed $13.5 million.

Kosair plans to use the money to recruit physician specialists and subspecialties including pediatric neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, and opthamalogy, which it competes for on a national level with other top children’s hospitals. The funding will also help to provide endowed chairs and teaching fellowships through its partnership with the University of Louisville as the only pediatric teaching facility for the university.

New and renovated facilities also are a key component of the plan, including the Congenital Heart Center — the only one of its kind in the region — the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Cancer Care and Renal Center, and telemedicine.

Advances in technology now allow Kosair specialists to communicate with doctors at area hospitals to provide input on diagnosis and treatment of patients off the hospital grounds. Kosair doctors can review imaging and x-rays of those patients and determine if patients should be transported to Kosair for more specialized care.

“With this campaign, we are dedicating ourselves to our children and future generations of children, to bring a renewed level of commitment and service,” said G. Hunt Rounsavall, chair of the campaign. “It is a new age when Kosair Children’s Hospital must compete for the world’s best specialists, when we must fund the marvels of modern medicine, when we must ensure state-of-the-art technology and focus on advanced research.”

Tammy Moore loved the experience at Kosair so much, she hopes to work there one day. Either way, the hospital and the Moores are inextricably linked by David’s experience there — and Tammy couldn’t be happier.

Before David’s first surgery, two doctors sat at the foot of his bed with Tammy for an hour.

“It was amazing to see these two very busy men sit with my child for an hour because they were so concerned,” she said. “It’s just a wonderful, wonderful place.”