Transplanting cells and hope in young patients
By Christine Cleary
Carsyn Gilloren and her mother, Jennifer, look to physician assistant Derek Callaway for comfort and care as the troddler recovers from a stem cell transplant.
As young patients recover from their stem cell transplants at Children's Hospital Boston, it is not unusual for them to place a large sign in their windows for staff across the street at Dana-Farber's Jimmy Fund Clinic (JFC), where they receive outpatient care before and after their transplants. "We love you, we miss you," the signs say, often guarded by a child small enough to stand on the unit's windowsill.
For these very sick patients, the forces of two mighty institutions join together for a microscopic purpose: helping tiny cells become a powerful new immune system. This partnership makes it possible to offer streamlined services before, during, and after the intense experience known as stem cell transplantation. "I don't think of Children's and the Jimmy Fund Clinic as separate places," says Derek Callaway, MS, PA-C, a physician's assistant who provides follow-up care for stem cell patients. "We are the same team."
The young patients' window greetings symbolize the connection between the two hospitals, which provide this special brand of care in sparkling new spaces. "For stem cell patients, just as in general pediatric oncology, Children's offers inpatient care and subspecialty consultations, Dana-Farber provides outpatient care with emphasis on cancer, and the program functions as one," says Patti Branowicki, MS, RN, vice president for medicine patient services at Children's and director of nursing and patient services for pediatric oncology at DFCI.
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