Sarah provides child care at her home in Fort Morgan, Colorado—a rural town of large beef and sugar manufacturing plants in the northeast corner of the state. Her husband runs his own trucking company with their family, and Sarah has run her business for several years.
Sarah arrives for her baby’s 1-month well-child checkup hoping for the best. Carlie, her daughter, was born prematurely and has not been eating very much over the last few weeks.
Sarah begins talking about Carlie’s feeding habits and when she places Carlie on the scale, Dr. Prince, her pediatrician, looks worried. Because Carlie isn’t gaining weight, she recommends admitting Carlie to a children’s hospital 100 miles away in Aurora, Colorado. She knows this is not the news Sarah wants. To offer additional support to Sarah and Carlie, she connects Sarah with Renee, the HealthySteps Specialist and lactation consultant.
Renee reassures Sarah and offers some feeding suggestions while they wait for Dr. Prince to complete the hospital admissions process. They try several techniques and Carlie immediately sucks down her bottle. Sarah is thrilled. Her baby had not eaten like this, ever. Renee is thrilled too and rushes to find Dr. Prince, who gladly ends her call with hospital admissions. The team agrees to observe Carlie for 24 hours, and everyone is feeling optimistic as Carlie eats. Sarah drives home, feeling a huge weight roll off her shoulders.
After several visits, Dr. Prince and Renee spot a small challenge with Carlie’s breathing, which might have contributed to her early struggle to gain weight. Eventually, Sarah and Carlie make the trip to the hospital for surgery to correct the breathing issue. Sarah, still a little uneasy about the surgery, feels better knowing she has Renee on her care team.
After a successful surgery, Carlie’s healing is smooth, and she continues to gain weight.
Now, she’s 3 1/2 years-old and attending her first year of preschool (she knows her ABCs and can count to 10)! Carlie is a busy kid who loves playing t-ball, swimming, and helping her papa with the race car. She also loves to do hair and dress up.
My involvement with HealthySteps saved my daughter and gave her an amazing start to life, you wouldn’t even know she had any issues eating or growing now!
HealthySteps continues to be a part of Carlie’s normal health care. Even after Renee and Dr. Prince move to different clinics, they are present in the family’s life—celebrating holidays and coaching and playing sports together. Their new HealthySteps Specialist, Sherri, stops by during every appointment with their current pediatrician, Dr. Wood, to say hi, check-in, and provide support as needed. The family also looks forward to the Wednesday outings hosted by the clinic’s HealthySteps team.
I’ve referred many new moms and current moms to Dr. Wood and Mrs. Sherri because of their roles in HealthySteps and everything they’ve done for my family.
