It takes a village

They say it takes a village to get things completed sometimes and this exact event took a huge team effort. It makes me extremely proud to be a member of the Carilion family. Saturday April 24, 2021 a Carilion apheresis nurse, Frank Doyle, successfully completed the second pediatric RBC depletion/exchange treatment. This treatment is performed on the patient population that have Sickle Cell Disease to assist in removing sickled cells, this improves their quality of live by decreasing their pain and preventing hospitalization due to exacerbations. Historically, patients would have to go to UVA or Duke for this treatment. I am proud to say we are able to offer this treatment and patients can stay closer to home. I would be remiss if I did not say thank you to all of the people involved in making this happen. The list includes: nephrology (Dr. Guelich), pediatric hem/onc physicians, nurses and front office staff, CTaC, CMC IP pediatric and PICU teams including physicians, nurses etc, Apheresis nursing staff, IT, pharmacy, blood bank and last but not least senior leadership from all of these departments.