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New center helps meet growing need for pediatric care in our community Families in northern Delaware and surrounding areas have a new option for pediatric care. Today ChristianaCare opened a new 14-bed Pediatric Care Center that provides 24/7 combined short-stay inpatient and emergency care for children and teens. The new center is located on the first floor of the Center for Women’s & Children’s Health on ChristianaCare’s Newark Campus. “This new facility is an exciting step in our continued journey to create the absolute best care for children and families in our community,” said David Paul, M.D., chair of the Department of Pediatrics. “The Pediatric Care Center will significantly improve access to care for children, enhance the patient experience and address the needs of families who want high-quality care in a child-friendly environment.” The 24-hour Pediatric Care Center will be able to evaluate and manage 90% of the pediatric cases currently seen in the Christiana Hospital Emergency Department. The center expects to care for an estimated 6,300 patients the first year, with volume projected to grow 5% each year. The Pediatric Care Center also provides expert care to children and adolescents with behavioral health emergency needs and appropriate referral sources for follow-up care. “Our new Pediatric Care Center makes it easier than ever for families and children to receive excellent care when they need it, in a special space designed just for them,” said Sharon Kurfuerst, Ed.D., OTR/L, FACHE, system chief operating officer at ChristianaCare and President, Union Hospital. “The center will care for the special needs of pediatric patients, making it convenient for them to receive dedicated, expert resources for hospital-based, non-trauma emergency and inpatient care all in one location.” The 8,400 square-foot facility provides 14 beds for emergency and short-stay inpatient and observation care. “We offer 24/7 pediatric emergency care 365 days a year,” said Megan Mickley, M.D., MBA, FAAP, FACEP, medical director, who is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine and fellowship-trained in Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Emergency Ultrasound. “The Pediatric Care Center team is a diverse, multidisciplinary group led by pediatric physicians trained in a variety of backgrounds, including emergency medicine and hospital medicine,” she said. “Our goals are not only to provide exceptional quality of care for children, but also to improve access to and expand pediatric care services for our neighbors. We look forward to being a trusted partner for pediatric care in our community.” About the Center for Women’s & Children’s Health The Center for Women’s & Children’s Health, which opened in a state-of-the-art facility in 2020 on ChristianaCare’s Newark campus, represents a new standard of care for our community. It is the region’s only National Community Center of Excellence in Women’s Health and offers innovative, patient-centered care for mothers, babies and families. The center provides private rooms for mothers and families after delivery and is one of the only hospitals in the United States to provide couplet care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, keeping mother and baby together even if they both require medical care.
ChristianaCare is out to revolutionize health care. One of the country’s most dynamic health care systems, ChristianaCare is partnering with two leaders in medical and therapy services to provide comprehensive, integrated virtual health services 24/7 to colleges, universities and other institutions of higher education. Together with PursueCare and SimpleTherapy, ChristianaCare created a bundled health care product that combines general medical services from ChristianaCare’s Center for Virtual Health, mental health and addiction treatment programs from PursueCare and hyper-personalized musculoskeletal care from SimpleTherapy. ‘The future of health care is virtual’ “At ChristianaCare, we know that the future of health care is virtual,” said Sharon Anderson, MS, RN, FACHE, ChristianaCare’s chief virtual health officer and president of ChristianaCare’s Center for Virtual Health. “When college students are able to access medical, behavioral health and musculoskeletal services through their phone or laptop, from their dorm room or a private space on campus, they’ll be more likely to get help when they need it. This is about delivering care to students on their terms, so that they can be healthy and supported with high-quality care throughout their college experience.” Personalized virtual health solutions will be available to students at participating higher education institutions through a customized portal accessible from any computer or mobile device. Students will be able to access assessments, resources and virtual treatment via modules or telemedicine sessions with licensed providers. The offering provides students with unlimited, on-demand care from a multidisciplinary team solving for a multitude of conditions. “For college and university student health services and administrators, this partnership offers a powerful new way to provide comprehensive, affordable health solutions that benefit students,” Anderson said. “In a highly competitive recruiting environment, these solutions are easy to implement and can add tremendous value. We are excited to partner with colleges and universities to strengthen their student health programs by creating a comprehensive virtual care solution to meet their student’s health care needs.” Through a single digital portal, participating students can access internal and family medicine providers from ChristianaCare’s Center for Virtual Health. PursueCare’s Joint Commission-accredited mental health, psychiatric and medication-assisted treatment providers, and SimpleTherapy’s licensed physical therapists specializing in musculoskeletal care, acute or chronic pain management, and strength and mobility training can all be accessed through the portal. Students will also have the option of using PursueCareRx for their pharmacy needs. PursueCareRx is a competitively priced full-service pharmacy that accepts most major insurance and delivers directly to customers. “Young adults face an escalating mental health and substance use crisis,” said Nick Mercadante, founder, and CEO of PursueCare. “Colleges and universities are frequently unable to comprehensively serve the increased need, and research suggests substance use, mental health and suicide carry a significant social stigma. Our goal is to work collaboratively with campus health resources to bring a low-barrier solution students can access privately, any time, on their terms. Additionally, partnering with a world-class health system like ChristianaCare means we can help support whole-person care needs.” “Chronic musculoskeletal disorders have never been more prevalent and traditional care pathways are often ineffective and costly,” said Arpit Khemka, co-founder and CEO of SimpleTherapy. "SimpleTherapy removes barriers for students allowing them to take control of their musculoskeletal health, reducing their need for high-cost, high-risk services, such as surgery and opioids, to manage pain. This results in higher compliance rates and more successful outcomes." Customized and co-branded product The product is designed for colleges, universities and all other higher education institutions. For a flat fee, a school will be able to offer care that is customized and co-branded with school-specific content to be an extension of existing campus health services. It provides curated resources for rapid pre-assessment, on-demand chat and discreet, personalized access to care for students on or off-campus. The innovative patient portal aims to improve and strengthen how schools offer health care solutions to their student population while reducing any potential interruptions of academic and athletic pursuits by making it possible for students to conveniently access care from anywhere. In addition, the offering eliminates social stigma and other access obstacles for students who are at-risk or potentially at-risk, making it more likely that students will avail themselves of treatment options and remain in school. These services are currently licensed to operate in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Applications for licenses are underway in other states. ChristianaCare has long been a trailblazer in virtual health. Among its achievements, during the COVID-19 pandemic, ChristianaCare developed a COVID-19 virtual monitoring program that helped 37 companies in 14 states safely reopen with daily symptom monitoring, testing and connections to care for more than 10,000 employees. It’s Center for Virtual Health makes receiving care radically convenient, offering a full continuum of virtual care delivery programs. These programs include virtual primary care, specialty care programs and a Hospital Care at Home Program bringing hospital level of care to a patient’s home. The Center for Virtual Health cares for thousands of patients using state-of-the-art virtual care capabilities supporting patients in receiving care anytime, anyplace, including in the comfort of their own homes. For more information about the program, visit StudentCareSolutions.com.
ChristianaCare Launches Gender Wellness Program for Transgender and Gender Diverse Individuals
Pride Month announcement highlights need for quality health care for LGBTQ+ community ChristianaCare has opened a Gender Wellness Program to provide psychotherapy and support services for individuals age 13 and older who are exploring their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria—a sense of incongruence and distress that a person may have because of a mismatch between their gender identity and their sex affirmed at birth. Downloadable: PHOTOS VIDEO The program also provides treatment for any behavioral health condition the individual may be struggling with, such as anxiety and depression. People who identify as transgender have higher rates of suicide attempts than individuals who do not identify as transgender, according to the National Institutes of Health. “ChristianaCare aims to provide the safest, highest quality health care and the best experience possible for our entire community, guided by our values of love and excellence,” said Mustafa A. Mufti, M.D., interim chair of the ChristianaCare Department of Psychiatry. “Caring for our entire community means providing sensitive, compassionate, and state-of-the-art behavioral health and medical care to transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Our Gender Wellness Program will help improve health equity and outcomes for individuals and families who need these services. We know that transgender and gender-diverse individuals face health disparities, and our program will help address that.” The program follows the guidelines of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). WPATH promotes the highest standards of health care for the health of transsexual, transgender and gender-nonconforming people based on the best available science and expert professional consensus. “Our Gender Wellness Program is ready to support anyone age 13 or older who is exploring their gender identity, experiencing gender dysphoria or who needs education and support around social and medical transition,” said Brett E. Herb, DSW, LCSW, program manager of the Gender Wellness Program. Dr. Herb has been in clinical practice for more than 25 years as a psychotherapist and a clinical and administrative manager for numerous behavioral health programs, and has been working with the transgender and gender-diverse populations for the past 17 years. “We provide referrals to compassionate, gender-affirming health care experts,” Dr. Herb said. “Often, families find themselves having to educate their primary care providers, schools, neighbors and family members about how to appropriately care for gender-diverse individuals. Our program provides individuals and families with access to specially trained gender therapists they can trust who can get them the answers they need to help navigate the complexities they may encounter.” The Gender Wellness Program provides referrals to trans-competent primary care providers who prescribe gender-affirming hormone treatment, along with specialists for gynecological and obstetrics care. The program offers individual, couples, family and group therapy sessions. It also provides existing patients with assistance with personal documentation changes and letters of surgical support. “This program has provided me with tremendous support throughout my transition,” said Julie Brown of Wilmington, Delaware. “My therapist empathizes with what I am experiencing in my life, and has guided me through my evolution. The group therapy sessions help me understand that I am not alone. “We form a community, share information and support each other in a safe environment. My child is also a patient of the Gender Wellness Program. Their support has helped him deal with my changes and understand his gender dysphoria.” “Brett Herb and the Gender Wellness Program have helped me grow the confidence I needed,” said Kristopher Snedeker of Newark, Delaware. “Working with the professionals at the program has provided resources to help further my gender transition to become who I truly am.” Gender therapists at the Gender Wellness Program are: Brett E. Herb, DSW, LCSW, Program Manager. Amanda Pope Evans, MSW, LCSW. Katherine Goemaat-Suarez, MSW, LCSW. ChristianaCare is a national leader in LGBTQ+ health care. For the past 11 consecutive years, Christiana and Wilmington hospitals have been recognized by the Healthcare Equality Index as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader. Individuals who would like to learn more can contact the Gender Wellness Program at genderwellnessprogram@christianacare.org or call 302-623-6773. For more on ChristianaCare’s LGBTQ+ health initiatives, visit LGBTQ Health Initiatives.
ChristianaCare’s Future of Health Scholarship Program Honors 10 HBCU-Bound Students
Unique opportunity pairs $500,000 in support with paid summer internships To strengthen and diversify the health care workforce for years to come, ChristianaCare has provided $500,000 in scholarships to 10 students in Delaware who plan to pursue degrees in health care. The financial support, through ChristianaCare’s Future of Health scholarship program, provides $12,500 in support annually per student, plus a paid internship each summer, for students to attend historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). “Partnering with the HBCU Week Foundation this year was an exciting new adventure for ChristianaCare, and one we knew we needed to be a part of, given our commitment to the community and to building our health care workforce of the future – in and of the community,” said Bettina Tweardy Riveros, J.D., chief health equity officer and senior vice president of Government Affairs and Community Engagement at ChristianaCare. “It is important for us to remove barriers that are impacting Delaware residents from being able to pursue higher education at historically Black colleges and universities. Being able to offer scholarships, internships and support to these students is another way that we know we are opening up the door to diversify the health care profession.” The scholarships represent an ongoing approach by ChristianaCare to improve health equity, community health and inclusivity and diversity. In 2020, ChristianaCare made a public commitment to being an anti-racism organization. For its efforts, ChristianaCare has been ranked one of the Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes magazine, as well as the No. 2 health care employer in the nation for diversity and inclusion and the No. 40 employer nationally overall. “If you want to know more about an organization, see where they invest their dollars,” said Pamela Ridgeway, chief diversity officer for ChristianaCare. “An investment of $500,000 for Delaware residents who choose to go to HBCUs says a lot. The fact that it comes with summer internships for every year and the expectation of employment at the end shows that we are an organization with a commitment.” “The HBCU Week Foundation is proud to partner with ChristianaCare to help support these future health care professionals by giving them the academic and networking experiences needed to excel in their intended career choices,” said Ashley Christopher, Esq., founder and chief executive officer of HBCU Week Foundation, and an alumna of both Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. “The medical field should reflect the communities it serves, and this partnership is one way to help make that happen.” Here are the students who earned scholarships through ChristianaCare’s Future of Health scholarship program, and the HBCUs they elected to attend: Aniyah Barnett, Hampton University. Brooke Brothers, Delaware State University. Solomon Devard, Lincoln University. Mychele Gibson, Howard University. Aa’khai Hollis, Bowie State University. Kianna Kelley, Delaware State University. Delaney Leonard, Howard University. Madison Perry, Jackson State University. Tania Paden, Delaware State University. Cierra Holmes, Delaware State University.
ChristianaCare is the first health system in the Philadelphia region piloting an innovative tool called Moxi, a collaborative robot — or “cobot”— that can assist in the hospital by making deliveries and performing other non-clinical tasks so that nurses and other clinical staff can spend more time focused on what they do best—caring for patients. With a landmark $1.5 million grant from the American Nurses Foundation, ChristianaCare will deploy a total of five Moxi cobots at Christiana Hospital. It is the largest single grant in the history of Nursing at ChristianaCare. Research published in the Journal of Nursing Management shows that nurses spend a significant amount of time — up to 33% of their shifts — on time-consuming but simple tasks such as dropping off lab specimens, collecting supplies or picking up medications from the pharmacy. By taking over these time-consuming but simple tasks, Moxi enables nurses to focus on patient care, where their skills are most needed. “Nurses need the time and space to deliver care and patient education at the top of their license,” said Ric Cuming, Ed.D., MSN, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, chief nurse executive and president, ChristianaCare HomeHealth. “Moxi will be doing those hunting and gathering tasks such as getting equipment and supplies, which nurses are doing today but don’t need to be doing.” Cobots are designed to share workspace and interact directly with people. In ChristianaCare’s initiative, the Moxi cobots will be integrated with the Cerner Corporation electronic health record (EHR) platform and use artificial intelligence to proactively identify when nurses will need equipment, supplies, medications and lab tests. The Moxi cobots will be deployed to 11 inpatient units, partnering with more than 400 nurses. The American Nurses Foundation grant will enable ChristianaCare to evaluate the impact of cobots on nursing practice with the goal of scaling the technology if successful. “Moxi is not a replacement for a nurse or nursing position — or any position,” Cuming said. “It is an additional resource for nurses and their teams. “With robotic technology, we are using resources wisely and effectively, creating more efficient workflows, reducing repetitive tasks and freeing up nurses’ time for the complex clinical work that they excel at doing.” Reimagining Nursing ChristianaCare is one of 10 grant recipients from the American Nurses Foundation Reimagining Nursing (RN) Initiative. “We are proud that the American Nurses Foundation has the confidence in bold nurse-led ideas that will lead to large-scale, replicable change,” said Katherine Collard, MS, RN-BC, chief nursing informatics officer at ChristianaCare. “This grant will support nurses at ChristianaCare and our nursing colleagues across the nation in realizing their full potential, giving them the tools, resources and power to improve health care now and in the future.” With the American Nurses Foundation grant, ChristianaCare will conduct research on driving nursing outcomes through robotics. “We have a transformative opportunity to generate new knowledge and to move the science forward around robotics in nursing and in health care,” said Susan Birkhoff, Ph.D., RN, nurse scientist at ChristianaCare. “Through research, we will study Moxi’s impact to nursing caregivers that will have broad implications for nursing practice, workforce and education,” she said. ChristianaCare began exploring the potential of robotics to support Nursing with two Moxi cobots acquired in February, funded through the generosity of donors including Good Samaritan, Inc. and E.J. “Woody” Rice. With the grant, said Birkhoff, ChristianaCare will take Moxi to the next “bold frontier,” adding three more cobots with the goal of automating and optimizing nurses’ workflow without interrupting care. With five total cobots, ChristianaCare will be home to the largest number of Moxi robots in health care. The Little Bot That Can Before Moxi can become fully part of the care team, it must learn to navigate the hospital and respond to the nurses’ needs. Using artificial intelligence, Moxi is mapping out Christiana Hospital through sensors and other machine-learning technology so that the cobots can ultimately navigate and work autonomously. “When the Moxi cobots are fully integrated, we anticipate that they will complete up to 200 delivery tasks a day,” Collard said. “By making point-to-point deliveries, Moxi can save nurses hours of time and thousands of steps.” Designed to be compatible with the busy environments of hospitals, Moxi’s features include: Social intelligence: Moxi won’t bump into people or objects in hallways, waves when it sees someone new and happily poses for selfies. Mobile manipulation: Moxi can learn to use its robotic arm to operate existing automatic doors and elevator panels. Human-guided learning: The more Moxi is used, the more Moxi learns and adapts to the environment and specific ways of doing things. Friendly and safe design: With heart-shaped eyes and a friendly appearance, Moxi is designed to navigate safely and get the job done so nurses can focus on patient care. “What Moxi is doing in health systems like ChristianaCare is really transforming the way we think about health care and allowing staff to focus on the people in the hospital as opposed to the tasks,” said Dr. Andrea Thomaz, CEO and co-founder of Diligent Robotics, which created Moxi. “Robots are not something way in the future. Our robots work side-by-side with humans to ease the stress and workload of one of the most demanding jobs in society, nursing. The partnership between Diligent and ChristianaCare shows that the future is now.” Hospital Helper Directly from the Cerner EHR, Moxi will be able to anticipate clinician and patient needs and perform tasks without human involvement. Examples could include: Delivering items to patients based on nurses’ order requests. Making rounds across units to deliver lab samples on collections completed in the electronic health record. Making just-in-time deliveries of pharmaceuticals not stocked on the floor. Prioritizing tasks based on the nursing workload in a unit, so that the busiest nurses will get help first. “Connecting Moxi to the existing technology that clinicians use on a daily basis is key to making it easier to anticipate needs so clinicians can spend more time on patient care,” says Eva Karp, DHA, MBA, RN-BC, senior vice president, chief clinical and patient safety, Cerner. “Moxi could make a real difference in a nurse’s day — alleviating burnout and staffing shortages, which have become especially prevalent since the pandemic.” Incorporating the electronic health record into Moxi is part of the study funded by the American Nurses Foundation. “It’s absolutely in the best interest of our patients that Moxi can work alongside nurses so we can spend more time working directly with our patients to do what we do best,” said Pam Owen, MSN, RN-BC, nurse manager on 7E, one of the pilot units. “And Moxi brings a smile to people’s faces.” Fast Facts About Moxi Works in 22-hour shifts. Needs only two hours of charging time. Weighs about 300 pounds. Can carry a total weight of 70 pounds. Gender-neutral. Pronouns are “it” for a single Moxi cobot and “they” for more than one. Named one of America’s Greatest Disruptors in 2021 by Newsweek and one of the Best Inventions of 2019 by Time Magazine. About ChristianaCare Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,299 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute. ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.
School to provide increased access to preventative health services for young students so they can learn, grow and thrive To address health issues at the earliest and most preventable stages, provide whole child health, and advance health equity in the community, ChristianaCare opened a new school-based health center at Kuumba Academy Charter School in Wilmington on Friday, May 6th. The creation of the center, made possible through ChristianaCare’s partnership with the Community Education Building (CEB), which houses Kuumba Academy, means that students at the kindergarten-through-8th grade school will have increased access to an array of health services. “At ChristianaCare, we recognize the comprehensive health needs of adolescents in our community and are committed to partnering and using our resources wisely and effectively to expand our school-based health centers,” said Bettina Tweardy Riveros, J.D., chief health equity officer and senior vice president of Government Affairs and Community Engagement at ChristianaCare. “We know that childhood trauma adversely affects the ability of children to learn and build healthy relationships and it increases their risk of mental health issues and lifelong chronic disease. The opening of our school-based health center at Kuumba Academy means that ChristianaCare can support medical and behavioral health services and wraparound social care our children need, so we can positively influence their health, their education and their futures.” With the latest opening, ChristianaCare now operates 21 school-based health centers throughout the First State, in partnership with the Delaware Department of Health & Social Services, the Delaware Division of Public Health and several school districts. Kuumba Academy students, who spoke at an event Friday to celebrate the grand opening, will have access through its school-based health center to the following: Comprehensive behavioral health services. Crisis intervention and suicide prevention. Substance use disorder treatment. Tobacco cessation. Nutrition and weight management. Physical examinations. Health screenings. Treatment for minor illnesses and injuries. Reproductive health. In addition, Kuumba Academy students also will have access to resources that help their families surmount obstacles such as transportation, challenging appointment times, and worries about cost and confidentiality. “Kuumba Academy remains committed to meeting the needs of the whole child and family,” said Sally Maldonado, head of school at Kuumba Academy, the mission of which is to provide an innovative learning environment for the whole child from kindergarten through eighth grade. “The opening of this school-based health center means that our students and families will have daily access to the high-quality behavior and health services that they deserve, and we are grateful to ChristianaCare and CEB for their partnership. We are beginning to see ourselves on the other side of this pandemic and we are energized to emerge with these newfound partnerships focused on health and wellness for our village.” ChristianaCare has partnered with CEB and Kuumba Academy on community-focused health initiatives in the past. In February 2021, ChristianaCare provided more than 800 vaccinations to community members and staff at CEB. On February 7th of this year, ChristianaCare vaccinated 38 people, including 19 children, against COVID-19. This added to the more than 6,000 vaccinations that ChristianaCare Community Health has administered since 2021. “At CEB, we understand the importance that health plays on a child’s ability to learn and succeed,” said Linda Jennings, CEO at CEB. “We are beyond excited to partner with Kuumba and ChristianaCare to launch the Kuumba Academy School-Based Health Center at CEB and add to the list of holistic and integrated support we provide to students and their families.” Today’s event coincides with Better World Day, an annual, national event on the first Friday in May. During Better World Day, students showcase their learning about initiatives that they believe will have a positive impact on their community and the world. Through collaboration and acts of service, students learn the power of their voice to make change. About ChristianaCare Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,299 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute. ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care. About Kuumba Academy Charter School Kuumba Academy Charter School’s mission is to provide an innovative learning environment for the whole child from kindergarten through eighth grade. Our directors, staff, and families share the core belief that parents are children’s primary educators. KACS parents, in partnership with teachers and administrators, believe that every child can maximize his or her learning potential given the opportunity to do so. In response to the outcry from Wilmington parents looking for a high-quality public education and increased access to arts education for their children, Christina Cultural Arts Center leaders, parents, and community supporters took action and were granted a Department of Education charter to create Kuumba Academy Charter School (KACS) in 2001. KACS was the first school model in the state that partnered a public charter school with a nonprofit community organization. Christina Cultural Arts Center (CCAC) and KACS form a unique nonprofit/public school partnership committed to educational excellence. Through the innovative union of academics, arts, technology, and family engagement, each KACS student’s individual learning style is nurtured—resulting in creative learners who are agents of positive change in the community. The CCAC/KACS model is regarded by many as the single most significant achievement in Wilmington’s post public school desegregation history. About the Community Education Building (CEB) CEB was established in 2012 after Bank of America donated the former MBNA Bracebridge IV building to The Longwood Foundation. Living up to its commitment of increasing access to education, the Longwood Foundation created CEB as an independent entity, and transformed the space into an ecosystem to support the social, emotional, physical, and academic development of Wilmington’s youth. CEB is an innovative co-location and shared services model. Focused on supporting the entire family, CEB offers vibrant programs and support systems that provide a sound foundation for each student. It serves as a hub for families by offering services such as healthy meals, life coaches, and mental health services. This model leads to deeper family engagement in their child’s learning and allows schools to focus on teaching and learning, not operations and overhead. CEB is an educational ecosystem that holistically integrates programs and resources for students and their families, ensuring that every student has an equitable opportunity to succeed.
Findings point to potential new therapeutic targets for this highly aggressive, drug-resistant breast cancer subtype In breakthrough research at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, scientists have discovered that a protein secreted by tumor cells can switch off the body’s natural defenses against triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). The study, led by Jennifer Sims-Mourtada, Ph.D., lead research scientist at the Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research (CTCR), at the Graham Cancer Center, is reported in The Journal of Translational Medicine, available online. “What we found is that TNBC tumor cells can effectively shut down the body’s defense systems against the tumor by secreting a type of protein called IL-10,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “The presence of this immune system protein forces the antibodies that would normally be created to attack the tumor to become non-reactive and not do what they are supposed to do.” The study was initiated in partnership with The Wistar Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the late Raj “Shyam” Somasundaram, Ph.D., a cell biologist at the Melanoma Research Center. “Dr. Sims-Mourtada and her team have brought us tantalizingly close to understanding what drives the aggressive nature of triple negative breast cancer, a treatment-starved disease that disproportionately affects Delaware women,” said Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., Bank of America endowed medical director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute. “Their work underscores our belief that scientific collaborations such as this one between our Cawley CTCR clinicians and Wistar scientists can smooth the way for new findings to become effective therapies, especially for hard-to-treat and aggressive forms of cancer like TNBC.” Understanding the mechanism behind TNBC Delaware ranks highest in the nation for incidence of triple negative breast cancer. TNBC is an aggressive form that affects Black women at twice the rate of white women with poorer outcomes. Patients have higher rates of early recurrence than other breast cancer subtypes, particularly in the first five years after diagnosis. Currently there is no targeted therapy for TNBC. “One of our missions within the Cawley CTCR is to understand the mechanisms behind TNBC and find a treatment for it,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “Our study sheds new light on what is prompting the body’s immune response to the cancer cells and offers clues to potential new therapeutic targets.” Normally it is the job of the B cells to regulate the immune response against foreign invaders like cancer. Among other jobs, they control inflammation at the site of an attack by releasing proteins including IL-10 to signal the defender cells to stand down. “Previously it was thought that the immune cells were the ones to express IL-10 to regulate themselves,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “But our study shows that the tumor cells also release this protein, which means they are driving how the immune system behaves.” Within the tumor microenvironment, IgG4 is one of four antibody subclasses expressed and secreted by B cells. Whereas another type of antibody would urge the immune system to press on with the attack, activation of IgG4 signals the job is done. TNBC and activation of IgG4 “Our findings support that TNBC may create a tumor environment that supports activation of IgG4, and messaging from IL10 is triggering the switch,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. As previously reported with other cancers, such as melanoma, this study confirms that the presence of IgG4-positive B cells within the tumor associates with advanced disease increased recurrence and poor overall breast cancer survival. It is also possible that IL-10 expression by tumor cells may also be a cause of poor outcomes in TNBC, and this may be independent of IgG4+ B cells. “At this point, we don’t know what causes tumor cells to start secreting IL-10, but we know that B cell-tumor cell interactions are involved,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. “We still have to look at what is really going on in the B cell population to determine which subtypes of B cells are affected by this tumor crosstalk and why some forms of TNBC express IL-10 (the ones with poor outcomes) and others do not. “We think that the presence or absence of other immune cells in the microenvironment may affect how B cells interact with tumor cells to drive IL-10 expression,” she said. Resources for the study, including blood and tissue samples from consenting patients, were obtained through the Graham Cancer Center’s Tissue Procurement program. Interestingly, in a small subset of samples, the researchers found that IL-10 expression was significantly higher in Black patients than non-Hispanic white patients. These findings need to be confirmed in a larger more diverse population with different TNBC subtypes. Understanding tumor-infiltrating B cells “Our growing understanding of the contribution of IgG4+ cells to the immune microenvironment of TNBC and what drives IL-10 expression may reveal ways in which tumor-infiltrating B cells can contribute to tumor growth and provide new targets to increase the immune response to TNBC,” Dr. Sims-Mourtada said. As partners for more than a decade, Graham Cancer Center research clinicians and Wistar scientists collaborate across disciplines to translate cancer research into more effective therapies for patients everywhere. In addition to providing high-quality, viable tissue samples for Wistar research studies, Graham Cancer Center clinicians actively participate in concept development, sharing their unique understanding of the everyday patient experience.
ChristianaCare MICU becomes first in United States to renew Beacon Award for Excellence for fifth-consecutive three-year cycle ChristianaCare’s Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) has earned an unprecedented honor from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Among the thousands of intensive care units in the United States, ChristianaCare’s MICU is the first unit in history to earn a Beacon Award for Excellence from the association, also known as AACN, five times in a row. The Beacon Award is one of the highest achievements in nursing. The recognition lauds hospital units that employ evidence-based practices to improve patient and family outcomes. The award provides gold, silver and bronze levels of recognition to hospital units that exemplify excellence in professional practice, patient care and outcomes. Of the six Beacon Award-winning patient care units currently in the state of Delaware, five are at ChristianaCare: MICU (gold – five-time winner). Cardiovascular Critical Care Complex (gold – three-time winner). Transitional Medical Unit (silver). Surgical Critical Care Complex (silver). Transitional Surgical Unit (silver). ChristianaCare was one of 34 hospitals in the nation in 2021 with multiple units receiving Beacon Awards. Beacon Award designations are active for three years. “Through their relentless and uncompromising pursuit to deliver care that is nonpareil, the nurses of ChristianaCare’s MICU have become the paragon of what our profession can accomplish,” said Ric Cuming, EdD, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, ChristianaCare’s chief nurse executive and president of ChristianaCare HomeHealth. “The success of our ChristianaCare MICU, even in the face of this pandemic, also has inspired our health system’s other intensive care units to achieve unprecedented gains in safety and quality that have been recognized with the AACN’s Beacon Award, the touchstone by which all critical care nursing excellence and quality are measured.” Success in caring for patients amidst COVID-19 ChristianaCare’s values of love and excellence are at the heart of the 24-bed MICU at Christiana Hospital, which holds the most Beacon Awards in Delaware. This year’s award is especially meaningful on the heels of yet another difficult surge of COVID-19. “It is a testament to our nurses and the entire care team that we continued to reach milestones in patient safety and satisfaction even during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Carol Ritter, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, CNML, who has been nurse manager on the MICU for 10 years and a leader on the unit during all of its Beacon Award wins. “Everyone brings a level of expertise to the unit. We truly serve together.” Beacon awards celebrate the professional dedication that a nursing team demonstrates in going above and beyond to provide respectful, expert care. “Meaningful recognition takes on even greater relevance and importance as we continue to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said AACN President Beth Wathen, MSN, RN, CCRN-K. “Being recognized as a Beacon unit underscores these teams’ ongoing commitment to providing safe, patient-centered and evidence-based care to patients and families. This achievement is a tremendous honor to those who have worked so hard to achieve excellence in patient care and positive patient outcomes.” ChristianaCare is one of only 152 health care institutions in the nation and the only in Delaware to have gold-level units. In 2008, the MICU was the first unit in the state to receive the Beacon Award. MICU’s culture of continuous improvement The MICU’s commitment to data-driven, evidence-based care proved especially valuable during the pandemic’s early days. Prone positioning, a technique to help patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) to breathe better, had been a longtime practice in ChristianaCare’s ICU. ChristianaCare critical care nurses Maureen Seckel, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, CCNS, FCCM, FCNS, and Dannette Mitchell, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, CCRN, published an article in AACN Advanced Critical Care that described ChristianaCare’s pioneering adoption of this technique, which ultimately became standard practice nationally in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 and ARDS. “On our unit, we empower the team to provide evidence-based care and have the tools to guide the practice,” Seckel said. “Because of this we were able to incorporate a highly effective, life-saving measure into COVID-19 care early in the pandemic.” Continuous improvement is a hallmark of the unit. The MICU has seven Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program teams that follow data-collection processes to view trends and compare them to national standards to improve care and outcomes. “The whole unit is involved in collecting data to assess and make changes,” said MICU nurse Olivia Ross, BSN, RN, CCRN. Among the MICU’s accomplishments are excellent outcomes in preventing common hospital-acquired infections, even during the pandemic: Zero instances of catheter-associated urinary tract infections in three years. Zero instances of central line bloodstream infections in one year. The unit’s dedication to being exceptional today and even better tomorrow also focused inward during the pandemic. During a time of constant change, the team recognized the need for support to handle the unprecedented stress and strain of the pandemic. “To give the most vulnerable patients the highest levels of care on a consistent basis, we needed to take care of ourselves and one another too,” Ritter said. Ritter and team leaders committed to open-door policies throughout the pandemic, and they partnered with ChristianaCare’s Center for WorkLife Wellbeing to enable licensed psychologists to round on the unit, offering real-time check-ins with caregivers to provide support. The Beacon Award has been a resounding lift and reward for the MICU team members. “Having this recognition, especially during times of distress in the community and the world, signifies excellent nursing care,” said MICU nurse Paige Merring, MSN, RN, CCRN. “And to me it signifies an amazing team and great outcomes, which is the primary purpose of why we are all here.”
Dr. Janice Nevin named among Modern Healthcare’s 2022 ‘Top 25 Women in Health Care’
Nevin praised for her work expanding ChristianaCare’s efforts in health equity, value-based care and emerging technology ChristianaCare President and CEO Janice E. Nevin, M.D., MPH, has been named one of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare for 2022. This is the second time Dr. Nevin has received this distinction. Modern Healthcare chose awardees – female executives from different sectors of the health care industry – who are guiding health care improvement by influencing policy and care delivery models across the country. A panel of judges and the top editors of Modern Healthcare made the selections. The publication focused on Dr. Nevin’s leadership in ChristianaCare’s use of innovation and technology to aid in the battle against COVID-19 and improve health equity. It also called attention to her leadership in ChristianaCare’s collaboration with Highmark Health; through a new joint venture company, ChristianaCare and Highmark are combining their expertise and capabilities to create better health and to make health care more affordable for everyone by taking costs out of the system. “I am deeply gratified by this award, but it is even more so a recognition of the incredible work all of ChristianaCare’s caregivers do every day to create better health,” said Dr. Nevin. “Living our values of love and excellence, we are transforming care and becoming not just a health system—but a system that truly impacts health.” Dr. Nevin has overseen growth at ChristianaCare during the past year that includes a joint venture with AccentCare (formerly Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care) to expand in-home hospice and palliative care services throughout Delaware and a recently announced letter of intent to acquire Crozer Health, as well as the continued integration into the health system of Union Hospital in Cecil County, Maryland, which joined ChristianaCare in January 2020. At the same time, she has worked tirelessly to ensure the system continued its tradition of clinical excellence while maintaining financial health and stability. This year, ChristianaCare was recognized for the second consecutive year by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and by Forbes as one of the best health systems to work for in the United States. Dr. Nevin continues to promote caregiver wellbeing and health equity. For the work of ChristianaCare’s Center for WorkLife Wellbeing to support its caregivers, ChristianaCare earned a 2021 Joy in Medicine recognition from the American Medical Association. The American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity named ChristianaCare a 2021 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award honoree for demonstrating health equity as a priority across the organization. “ChristianaCare is lucky to have Dr. Nevin’s leadership,” said Nicholas M. Marsini, Jr., chair of the ChristianaCare board of directors. “Having Modern Healthcare recognize her extraordinary efforts and passion is a wonderful acknowledgement of what we see on an ongoing basis. Dr. Nevin is incredibly invested in the wellbeing of ChristianaCare’s workforce, the communities we serve and the future of the U.S. healthcare system.” The recognition also highlighted Dr. Nevin’s work in promoting gender equity – from building an executive cabinet evenly split between women and men to the creation of ChristianaCare’s Gender Equity Taskforce, which focuses on issues like pay equity and leadership access. The profiles of all the winners were featured in the February 21 issue of Modern Healthcare.
ChristianaCare and The Wistar Institute advance partnership with new cancer research strategies
ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute is advancing its historic partnership with the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center of The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia with three new research projects under way. The new research projects consist of a population health study targeting triple negative breast cancer. Other projects focus on a new therapeutic target for epithelial ovarian cancer, the most lethal gynecologic cancer in the developed world, and the development of “mini organs” derived from stem cells. Targeting triple negative breast cancer Delaware has one of the highest incidence rates of triple-negative breast cancer in the United States. This highly aggressive cancer has few treatment options, because the cells test negative for three known treatment targets – estrogen, progesterone and HER2 protein receptors. Working with patient data from the Graham Cancer Center, researchers are investigating potential contributing factors such as diet, alcohol use and genetic variants among women, and the effects of these on cancer metabolism. The team will also examine spatial relationships between cancer “hot spots”—geographic areas with a higher-than-expected prevalence—and modifiable risk factors. Key resources for the study are blood and tissue samples from the Graham Cancer Center’s Tissue Procurement Center and its statewide High-Risk Family Cancer Registry. The research team will be led by Director of Population Health Research at ChristianaCare Scott Siegel, Ph.D., and Lead Research Scientist Jennifer Sims Mourtada, Ph.D., at the Graham Cancer Center’s Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research (CTCR). They will join Zachary Schug, Ph.D., at Wistar’s Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program. Researching novel therapy for ovarian cancer The latest study supported by the Graham Cancer Center’s Tissue Procurement Program targets KAT6A expression as a novel therapy for ovarian cancer caused by a specific genetic mutation, called PP2R1A. Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common form of ovarian cancer and the leading cause of gynecologic cancer deaths in the United States. Chemoresistance to currently available platinum-based drugs like cisplatin represents a major treatment challenge, as more than 50 percent of affected women ultimately relapse and die from this disease. Wistar’s Rugang Zhang, Ph.D., leader of the Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastases Program, is focused on developing novel therapeutics for subtypes of ovarian cancer that currently have no effective therapies and on improving the current standard of care. Dr. Zhang’s previous work suggests that KAT6A signaling plays a critical role in ovarian cancer progression. Targeting this signaling pathway could be an effective strategy for treating ovarian cancer. Working with Dr. Zhang on this project are Graham Cancer Center gynecologic oncologists Mark Cadungog, M.D., director of Robotic Surgery, and Sudeshna Chatterjee-Paer, M.D., and Cawley CTCR’s Stephanie Jean, M.D., director of Gynecologic Oncology Research. Also collaborating with the team is Wistar’s Alessandro Gardini, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Gene Expression & Regulation Program. ‘Mini organs’ offer hope for therapeutics Dr. Sims-Mourtada at the Cawley CTCR will lead a new program to culture organ-specific tissue from stem cells that could change the way diseases are studied and treated. These so called “mini organs” or “organoids” are three-dimensional tissue cultures grown in the lab that replicate the complexity and functions of a specific tissue or organ found in the body. Organoids offer scientists a better model for how drugs and other therapeutics might interact with a patient’s particular type of tumor, opening new avenues for precision medicine. “The ability to grow each patient’s tumor in a three-dimensional organoid along with our capability to create patient-derived xenograft or animal models as part of our PDX core, will allow us to fully capture the effects of genetic as well as gene altering behavioral and environmental influences that are lacking in current research models,” said Dr. Sims-Mourtada. “Our collaboration with Wistar to build these programs raises our clinical platform to the next level for studying new cancer biomarkers and treatments.” Advancing a Pioneering Partnership The Graham Cancer Center made history when it signed a first-of-its-kind agreement in 2011 with The Wistar Institute, pairing a National Cancer Institute, NCI-designated basic research institution with a community cancer center that is also an NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). “Our partnership with Wistar has attracted national recognition as a model of collaboration that leverages cutting-edge research to benefit cancer prevention and therapy statewide,” says Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., Bank of America endowed medical director of ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center and Research Institute. “With Wistar, our productive collaborations over the last decade continue to drive discovery research toward clinical trials to benefit patients here at the Graham Cancer Center and in communities everywhere.” “The Graham Center has been an ideal partner in our mission,” said Dario C. Altieri, M.D., Wistar president and CEO and director of the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center. “Our scientists at Wistar have access to clinically-annotated primary patient specimens of the highest quality. As the majority of patients at the Graham Cancer Center are treatment naïve, this collaboration affords an opportunity to conduct unique, high impact mechanistic and correlative studies that will ultimately advance important scientific discoveries that hopefully will lead to better cancer therapies.”