This is the very PLACE that helps the most fragile thrive
B
ethany and Sean Rubino excitedly prepared for their first child’s arrival. Everything was ready — Bethany’s brother had made a beautiful cradle for Baby Vinny in his woodshop class. Their joy was replaced with sadness when they learned he had been born with a severe heart defect. Vinny was just 36 hours old when, during an echocardiogram, his father glanced at the monitor. “His heart looked like a jacko-lantern filled with holes,” he says. Doctors explained that the ventricles of his heart were flipped (dextrocardia version), and that he wouldn’t live to be five years old. The family sought care for Vinny at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, where pediatric heart specialists redirected the flow of deoxygenated blood by creating a tube with his live heart tissue connecting the superior vena cava to the pulmonary arteries to have a passive flow of blood to the lungs. Vinny underwent this first surgery, the Glenn Procedure, at six months and on June 8, 2012, he underwent the
Fontan Procedure which diverted the venous blood from his right atrium to the pulmonary arteries. Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital is the only hospital to use a patient’s own heart tissue for this procedure, allowing Vinny’s heart to grow with him. His heart is now a single atrium-single ventricle system, which means his body functions with half the heart that other children have.
a little girl whose picture had been posted online by a friend of Bethany’s. Baby Sabrina, who had been living in an orphanage for sick children in China, arrived home with the Rubinos the day before Gianni’s first birthday. In 2014, Drs. Leonard Bailey, Anees Razzouk and Glen Van Arsdell performed Sabrina’s heart surgery at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.
“Knowing that God used us and Children’s Hospital to give her life is humbling.” “Eventually he will need a new heart,” says Bethany, “but he may be 50 or 60 years old before that’s necessary. By then we hope for even greater advancements in medicine.” The Rubinos second child, Gianni, was born in 2012. “Gianni was monitored closely while I was pregnant,” says Bethany. “After his birth, doctors found that he had an innocent heart murmur.” While it was not certain if the murmur would lead to other health concerns, the family began the process of adopting
After her surgery Sabrina thrived, growing five inches taller in just six months. Now the Rubino children are nothing short of rambunctious. Vinny, now almost 5, attends school where his mom is principal. And Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital has given Sabrina, who is now 3, a thriving, whole tomorrow. “Sabrina is the piece I didn’t know was missing,” says Bethany. “She fits right in with our family. Knowing that God used us and Children’s Hospital to give her life is humbling.”
Referenced in this story: Leonard Bailey, MD, surgeon-in-chief, Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital; Anees Razzouk, MD, chair, department of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, Loma Linda University Medical Center; Bethany Rubino, elementary school principal; and Sean Rubino, woodworker and stay-at-home parent. Glen Van Arsdell, MD, (Loma Linda University School of Medicine graduate,) division head, Hospital for Sick Children; associate professor, University of Toronto.
May The department of emergency medicine received the Outstanding Department Award from the Academy of Women in Academic Emergency Medicine. The awards committee said it was “uniformly impressed by the department’s commitment to supporting women in academic emergency medicine.”
July Loma Linda University Medical Center – Murrieta achieved “most wired” status by the American Hospital Association, having met specific benchmarks in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety and clinical integration.
November Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital licensure as a separate unit from the adult hospital became official; a celebration marking the accomplishment was held December 11.
Loma Linda University Health | 2014 Annual Report |
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