News from Lifespan

Hasbro Children’s Hospital Urges Caution to Families Using All-Terrain Vehicles

Tue, 28 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

As the weather continues to warm and families are spending more time outdoors, Hasbro Children’s Hospital has experienced an unsettling increase in the number of children coming in to the hospital with severe injuries sustained from all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Unfortunately, these types of injuries are not new. In the past five years, 29 children between seven and 16 years old were admitted to Hasbro Children’s Hospital following ATV accidents. Three of those admissions have occurred within the past few weeks.

ATVs are powerful, motorized vehicles that can weigh several hundred pounds and reach speeds of more than 60 mph. Even experienced drivers can lose control of ATVs, or suffer accidental collisions or rollovers. Children are at a higher risk of accidental injury because they are frequently passengers on these vehicles, which are meant for single riders.

Physicians at Hasbro Children’s Hospital are now hoping to educate families that ATVs are much more dangerous than they may seem, and that when injuries do occur, they can be very serious.

“Families need to understand that significant injuries can occur as a result of an ATV accident,” said Jonathan Schiller, M.D., a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. “In the past month alone, three children have required hospital admission due to injuries sustained while riding an ATV. Their injuries included severe bleeding in the brain, and spine and long bone fractures. All required surgery and in one instance, multiple trips to the operating room and continuing care in a rehabilitation facility.”

Dina Morrissey, M.D., program coordinator at the Injury Prevention Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital added, “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that no one under 16 years old ride ATVs or other motorized vehicles; and manufacturers warn that full-sized ATVs are not toys, and are not designed to be operated by those younger than 16. But, yet, about one quarter of the fatalities seen nationally as a result of ATV injuries are children who are 16 or younger.”

The Injury Prevention Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital urges parents to never allow children to drive or ride on ATVs, but offers the following tips for all ATV riders:

Attend an ATV driver’s safety course.
Never use a 3-wheeler. They are unsafe and are no longer manufactured.
Ride an age-appropriate ATV.
Provide constant supervision if a child is operating an ATV.
Never carry passengers. ATVs are designed for one person.
Do not use ATVs on the streets or at night.
Always wear an approved helmet with eye protection.
Wear non-skid, closed-toe shoes.
Wear long pants and a long-sleeve shirt.
Never operate an ATV under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Bradley Hospital Opens Intensive Program for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Bradley Hospital, the nation’s first psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents, recently launched a new program aimed at helping children with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a disorder that affects one in 200 children nationwide.

The Intensive Program for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the first of its kind on the East Coast, uses a milieu-based model to treat kids who experience a significant disruption to their daily lives due to OCD and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders.

The evidence-based program helps children, from five to 18 years old, alleviate symptoms, such as extreme anxiety, unreasonable thoughts and fears, and repetitive behaviors or rituals, all while improving daily functioning. The program also helps kids stay involved in school and family activities.

“For children and teens with severe OCD, the disruption to their daily lives can be profound,” said Jennifer Freeman, PhD, clinical co-director of the Intensive Program for OCD. “This program can be an effective care option for youth who have not responded to traditional outpatient treatment or who lack specialized OCD services where they live.”

In addition to Freeman, the program is led by a team of child behavioral experts, including medical director Brady Case, MD, and clinical co-director Abbe Garcia, PhD. Freeman and Garcia also co-direct the Pediatric Anxiety Research Clinic at the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center.

Patients are treated utilizing a specific form of cognitive behavioral therapy called exposure and response prevention (EX/RP), which has been found to be the most effective form of treatment for OCD. This therapy strengthens a child’s ability to manage anxiety by helping him or her gradually face fears and ultimately reduce the repetitive rituals of OCD.

Patients in the program receive treatment after school for daily three-hour sessions at Bradley Hospital, as well as twice weekly EX/RP sessions at their home, school and other community settings. The integration of community- and hospital-based treatment helps to avoid academic and social disruption, and help children and teens return to family life as quickly as possible.

“Every day challenges for children and teens with severe OCD can include school avoidance, withdrawal from family and friends, loss of interest in activities and problems eating, sleeping or bathing,” said Freeman. “Being able to offer an intensive intervention that will help these kids go back to ‘just being kids’ as soon as possible is invaluable.”

The Intensive Program for OCD creates individualized, age-appropriate treatment plans for each patient, including individual therapy, and family, group and milieu therapy. Parents and family members contribute to this plan, starting with the patient’s evaluation and throughout treatment. Clinical staff also work closely with the school system to develop reintegration plans for a successful return to school.

Find out more about the Intensive Program for OCD online or call 401-432-1516.

Join Us TUESDAY 5/14 for a Live Chat on Twitter on Kids’ Nutrition and Healthy Eating

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Maria Santini, RD, LDN, senior pediatric dietitian will be live on Twitter sharing tips for parents on making healthy food choices for kids, and answering questions about kids nutrition and dietary needs and more. Join us by following #HasbroDocChat at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14 for our next monthly chat! Follow Hasbro Children's Hospital on Twitter: @HasbroChildrens

Penelope Dennehy, MD Named CDC Childhood Immunization Champion for Rhode Island

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Rhode Island professor and infectious disease specialist Penelope Dennehy, MD,director of pediatric infectious diseases at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, has been selected as the state’s 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Childhood Immunization Champion.

CDC launched this annual award program to honor immunization champions in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia during National Infant Immunization Week.

Dennehy was nominated from a pool of healthcare professionals and other immunization leaders, all of whom have made significant contributions to childhood immunization in Rhode Island. Dennehy is the director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Hasbro Children’s Hospital and a professor of Pediatrics at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School.

“I am honored to be named Rhode Island’s CDC Childhood Immunization Champion. We owe the success that we have had in immunizing infants and children in Rhode Island to thousands of committed, dedicated healthcare professionals in our state,” said Dennehy. “We will continue to work together to make sure that all Rhode Island children are fully immunized against every vaccine-preventable disease.”

Dennehy sits on numerous boards and panels that aim to improve immunization rates in Rhode Island, including the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, the Rhode Island Hospital Immunization Task Force, and the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Additionally, she is renowned for her research in the epidemiology and etiology of viral gastroenteritis and viral respiratory disease, rotavirus disease and prevention, and the testing of vaccines and immunobiologics for prevention of rotavirus, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus.

“Through her lifelong passion for childhood immunization, Dennehy is an inspiration to her colleagues in healthcare,” said Michael Fine, MD, director of HEALTH. “Her work as a researcher and on the front lines at Hasbro Children’s Hospital is protecting children and saving lives.”

National Infant Immunization Week is an annual observance to highlight the importance of protecting infants from vaccine-preventable diseases. In addition to launching a social media campaign for National Infant Immunization Week, HEALTH partnered with students at the Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College Charter School to develop a children’s book about the importance of immunization. Copies of the book, “A Gift for Lily,” are available for order at http://www.health.ri.gov/forms/onlineordering/

A complete list of the 2013 Childhood Immunization Champions can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/champions/profiles.html

Hasbro Children’s Hospital Physician Receives $3.2 million Grant to Study Teen Alcohol Use

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Hasbro Children’s Hospital emergency medicine physician James Linakis, MD, PhD, was recently awarded a five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to validate a more efficient test to screen teenagers for future alcohol abuse and other risk behaviors. Linakis will be joined on the multi-site study by co-principal investigator Anthony Spirito, PhD, ABPP, professor of psychiatry & human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

The project, titled “Teen Alcohol Screening in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN),” will utilize 16 children's hospital sites to determine if the NIAAA two-question screen is an efficient and valid alcohol screening instrument among U.S. pediatric emergency department patients compared to the previously utilized more lengthy questionnaires.

Over the past few years, the NIAAA has focused on the importance of screening adolescents for alcohol problems, but the only screening tools have been relatively lengthy. A basic, two-question screening questionnaire was created that the NIAAA hopes will be predictive of both current and future alcohol problems in adolescents. It asks:

1.) Do you drink alcohol? How much?
2.) Do you have friends who drink alcohol?

“This two-question screening is based on established literature, but it has never been validated. The NIAAA is asking for PECARN hospital sites to test the two-question screener, so we can make sure that the screening system works,” said Linakis.

Adolescents ages 12 to 17, who are being treated in the emergency room, will be randomly selected to take part in the questionnaire. They will be asked these questions, along with a series of others to compare them with longer questionnaires. The goal is to screen 5,000 teens over three-and-a-half years. Researchers will then contact 1,000 of those teens and screen them again.

“We want to see if the shorter survey can just as effectively predict risky behaviors, both current and future,” said Linakis. “When we follow up we will also be able to see if the questionnaire predicted drug abuse or risky behaviors, not just alcohol use.”

After the study is complete, Linakis' team and the NIH hope to use this data to help develop an intervention for adolescents who drink alcohol and display other unsafe behaviors.

“The study, the data it finds, and the future intervention program will be extremely helpful for anyone who takes care of kids in a primary care setting,” said Linakis.

Ride at Night? Ride Bright! Bike Safety Event Urges Night-Riding Guidelines for Kids.

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

According to recent data, children and teens are four times more likely to be injured when riding a bicycle at dusk, dawn or night. The Injury Prevention Center (IPC) at Hasbro Children’s Hospital offers the following night riding safety tips:

Avoid riding at night, when possible
Avoid riding alone
Wear white, bright, and reflective clothing
Wear or use retro-reflective gear and clothing
Make sure bikes are equipped with reflectors, a headlight and a tail light
The sooner a driver can see you, the sooner they can react!

In addition, the IPC at Hasbro Children’s Hospital is committed to helping keep children safe with its Kohl’s Cares - Kids program. In partnership with Kohl’s Department Stores, the IPC staff hopes to raise bike safety awareness and prevent avoidable injuries at an upcoming free community event.

WHAT:	With the arrival of National Bike Safety Month in May, the IPC and Kohl’s Department Stores are offering a free Bike Safety: Ride Bright event. Experts from the Injury Prevention Center will check children’s’ helmets for proper fitting while volunteers from Narragansett Bikes perform bicycle mechanic safety checks. Local police officers will teach the rules of the road on a chalk safety course, including correct hand signals and tips on maintaining balance. Families can also enjoy demonstrations, giveaways, a raffle for a $500 bike and refreshments. Parents are encouraged to bring their child’s bike and helmet.
WHEN:	Saturday, May 4 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
WHERE:	Kohl’s 1 Commerce Way Seekonk, MA 02771
OTHER:	This is a free event and is open to the public. Children must be present to participate in the bike raffle. For more information, please call the Injury Prevention Center at 401-444-5018 or visit www.HasbroChildrensHospital.org

Join Us TODAY for a Live Chat on Twitter to Keep Kids Safe

Tue, 9 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Dina Morrissey, MD, MPH will be live on Twitter sharing tips to keep your children safe this spring and prevent injuries from bicycles, skateboards, open windows, ball fields and more. Join us by following #HasbroDocChat at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 9 for our first monthly chat!

Follow Hasbro Children's Hospital on Twitter: @HasbroChildrens

Bradley Hospital Announces Spring Speaking of Kids Schedule

Tue, 9 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

What:	The goal of Speaking of Kids is to provide parents and caregivers with tools that can help them raise happy, healthy children. Each workshop is about two hours long with time for audience questions. The Speaking of Kids series is presented by Bradley Hospital.
When:	Tuesday, April 23, 2013 “Enhancing Communication for Students with Autism” Stephen Sheinkopf, Ph.D. 6 p.m. Thursday, May 23, 2013 “Positive Approaches to Discipline” Rowland Barrett, Ph.D. 6 p.m.
Where:	Showcase Cinema 1200 Quaker Lane Warwick, R.I.
Other	Speaking of Kids programs are free and open to the public. Professional credits are available for nurses, social workers and child care providers at a cost of $10. To register, call the Lifespan Health Connection at 401-444-4800 or 1-800-927-1230. For more information, visit http://www.bradleyhospital.org/SOK.

Injury Prevention Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital names winners in 2013 “Safety is NO Accident” contest

Mon, 1 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EDT

The Injury Prevention Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital has announced the winners of the 2013 “Safety is NO Accident” video/poster/essay contest for Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts high school students. Winners came from Barrington High School, Central High School, Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, Providence Country Day, the Warwick Career and Technical Center, and Westerly High School.

“We had an incredible level of participation this year,” said Dina Morrissey, M.D., program coordinator for the Injury Prevention Center. “There were a total of 63 participants from 11 different schools throughout Rhode Island and Bristol County, Mass. Entries covered a wide variety of safety topics, including drinking and driving, texting while driving, driving under the influence of marijuana, workplace safety, dating violence, AIDS prevention and concussions.”

High school students were invited to create an original poster, 30-second video, or for the first time this year, write an essay that sends an important message about safety to their peers and community. Dozens of entries were received from both public and private high schools. A panel of judges that included health professionals, state police and occupational health experts gathered to choose the winners.

Video Winners:

First place – Alissa Musto of Providence Country Day
Second place – Julia Soares of Barrington High School
Third place – Mitchell Blier of Westerly High School

Poster Winners:

First place – Sophie Parenteau of Warwick Area Career and Technical Center
Second place – Christian Alejandre of the Warwick Career and Technical Center
Third place (tie) – Dalia Ariaza of Central High School and Nicholas Perreault of Warwick Career and Technical Center

Essay Winner:

Cady DeBlois of Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School

The winning video and poster entries may be viewed at the following link: http://www.rhodeislandhospital.org/services/injury-prevention-center/health-advocacy-programs/2013-safety-is-no-accident-video-poster-contest

A Mentor’s Award was also presented to the Rhode Island teacher whose students submitted the most entries. Ronald Rounds from Exeter-West Greenwich High School oversaw contest entries from 14 students at his school.

The winners will be presented with awards and prize money by Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts in a ceremony at the Rhode Island State House on Thursday, April 4 at 4 p.m. The first place winning poster will be displayed on a billboard for one month and the first place winning video will be shown at a Paw Sox game.

Major sponsors for this year’s contest included CVS Caremark, the Injured Workers Pharmacy (IWP), AAA of Southern New England, The Law Offices of Lawrence J. Signore, Rhode Island Public Health Association, OSHA, Brown University School of Public Health and the Rhode Island Committee on Occupational Safety and Health. For more information about avoiding accidental injury, please visit The Injury Prevention Center website.

Bradley Hospital Announces "Parenting Matters" 2013

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EDT

What	Bradley Hospital, the nation’s first psychiatric hospital for children, presents its 23^rd annual Parenting Matters conference. This half-day event offers parents, childcare providers and teachers a unique opportunity to learn from top child development and behavior professionals in a casual setting. The event will feature a keynote presentation by Kenneth Barish, Ph.D., a clinical associate professor of psychology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Barish will present: “Pride and Joy: A Guide to Understanding Your Child’s Emotions and Solving Family Problems.” Barish will offer solutions to many common problems of daily family life - problems that may erode the joyfulness of children and the pleasure in being parents. In addition to the keynote presentation, a variety of workshops are available, including, “Pride and Joy in the Classroom,” “Stress Management for Caregivers,” “The Impact of Modern Technology on the American Family,” “Behavioral Evaluation of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders,” “Bullying in Childhood,” “Confident and Self-Assured Kids,” and many more.
When:	Saturday, April 6, 2013 8 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. (8:45 a.m. – keynote address)
Where:	Barrington High School 220 Lincoln Ave. Barrington, R.I.
Other:	The registration fee is $20 per person before March 29. After March 29, the registration fee is $25. Registration is available online at http://www.bradleyhospital.org/parenting_matters or by telephone at 401-444-4800 or 1-800-927-1230. R.I. Department of Education, RIDCYF, and social work CEU professional credits are available.

Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center Investigators Receive $1.5 Million Grant to Explore HIV Treatment Compliance in Young Adults

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Researchers will study mobile app to engage young adults in managing their health

Watch the video.

Larry Brown, MD, and Laura Whiteley, MD, adolescent behavioral researchers from the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center, have been awarded a $1.5 million grant to improve antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence in HIV infected youth and young adults.

The study, funded by The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), will explore the use of a mobile phone app/game to better inform youth about their health needs and improve their adherence to treatment.

“Optimal outcomes in the treatment of people living with HIV require consistent attendance to medical appointments and high compliance to antiretroviral treatment,” said Whiteley. “Treatment adherence is associated with enhanced CD4+ cell count, reductions in HIV viral load, decreased transmission and an overall decrease in risk of death. Teaching young adults with HIV how to better manage their health is crucial to their long-term wellbeing.”

In the study, young adults between the ages of 14 to 24 who are HIV positive will have access to an action-adventure smartphone based app/game called “Battle Viro.” Tasks within the game are related to common HIV treatment protocols, such as players collecting pills to keep immune level scores high.

While gaming, participants will experience action-oriented adventures with a goal of increasing knowledge about their health (treatment, transmission, adherence), improving players’ motivation to manage their personal health, and building skills, such as interacting with physicians.

“Despite the necessity of treatment adherence for optimal health outcomes, youth living with HIV often do not stay in care and do not consistently take their HIV medications,” said Brown. “There is a great need to find effective interventions to improve treatment adherence for adolescents and young adults infected with HIV. Without adherence to medical care, we are not likely to halt the progression to AIDS.”

Pill bottle opening data from each participant’s medication bottle cap will be captured using a tracking technology, to measure whether participants are taking their medication regularly. The research team hopes to find more consistent medication adherence among the group that plays the smartphone game.

Brown and Whiteley’s principal affiliations are the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center, a division of the Lifespan health system in Rhode Island. They also have academic appointments at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, department of psychiatry and human behavior.

Lifespan Takes Major Step to Transform Health Care Delivery

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EDT

Selects Epic Systems technology platform for its patient-centric approach

Bradley Hospital and Gateway Healthcare Launch Kids’Link RI 24-hour Hotline for Children in Emotional Crisis

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EDT

1-855-KIDLINK available for children with behavioral problems or psychiatric illness

Bradley Hospital, the nation’s first psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents, has collaborated with Gateway Healthcare, Rhode Island’s largest community behavioral health care provider, to offer a 24-hour hotline for children in need of mental health care.

Kids’Link RI is a hotline that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for children in emotional crisis and who are suffering from behavioral problems or psychiatric illness.

“As many parents know all too well, a child can have a crisis or an emergency any time of the day or night. We want to make sure families have access to the care they need,” said Henry Sachs, M.D., chief medical officer of Bradley Hospital. “With the Kids’Link hotline, we are providing a safety net, so that no matter where or when a child needs help, he or she can receive it.”

The hotline -- 1-855-KIDLINK -- connects parents and caregivers to children’s mental health services in Rhode Island, and helps families determine the best place to go for treatment. With this confidential hotline, parents and caregivers can dial a toll-free number, and be connected with emergency service clinicians or receive direction about the appropriate “next step” for managing their crisis.

“We are so pleased to partner with Bradley Hospital to make the Kids’ Link hotline available,” said Gateway President and CEO Richard Leclerc. “There is nothing more heartbreaking than a child suffering with behavioral health issues, and we want to ensure that access to services is swift and seamless. The Kids’ Link hotline will prove to be an important community resource going forward.”

Parents and caregivers are encouraged to call the hotline on behalf of any child who is:

Feeling excessive anger or sadness
Hurting himself/herself or others
Lashing out at siblings, friends and adults
Having behavior problems at school
Having severe worries

When necessary, evaluations for children are offered at Bradley Hospital and Gateway Healthcare locations. For more information about Kids’Link RI, please visit http://www.bradleyhospital.org/KidsLinkRI.

Lifespan Opens Ambulatory Care Centers in East Providence and East Greenwich

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:00:00 EST

Focus of new centers is to make care more convenient for patients

Lifespan Launches Accountable Coordinated Care Organization with UnitedHealthcare

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 EST

Accountable coordinated care organization is the first of its kind in Rhode Island, combines innovative performance payment incentives with advanced analytics to improve care and outcomes for patients