Watch the original story on CBS here.
NORTH TEXAS – In the age of tablets and laptops, fewer students are using loops and tails to communicate.
But is cursive writing making a comeback in Texas?
New state requirements are putting more emphasis on cursive handwriting in particular.
Experts are pleased because they say cursive helps children with dyslexia.
View the original story on the Healthcare Design Magazine website here.
Cavazos joined HKS’ Dallas office in 2006, initially working part-time while pursuing his Master of Architecture degree at the University of Texas at Arlington. His first post was in the firm’s construction administration department, where he worked on a variety of high-end hospitality projects.
Six years into his career, he was selected to participate in the firm’s annual design fellowship program, where he impressed leadership with his design and presentation skills so much that he was invited to transfer to the elite healthcare studio. There, he developed a specialty in pediatric facility design while working on several high-profile projects, such as Akron Children’s Hospital’s Kay Jewelers Pavilion, Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, and Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center.
His unique background in construction administration and design as well as his ease in creating rapport with clients make him a sought-after resource in the office. In addition to serving as a studio leader and senior designer within the firm’s health sector, he was recently promoted to the role of business development practice leader, where he collaborates on proposals, attends project interviews, and coordinates marketing materials.
Healthcare Design: After spending time in other sectors and design specialties, why did you decide to focus on healthcare?
Cavazos: Admittedly, I was unsure about moving into healthcare after my work in hospitality and sports projects. At first, I was driven by the complexity of healthcare, but, not long after joining the studio, I remember hearing one of my colleagues speak about healthcare in a way that changed my perspective completely. She said, “When you go on vacation, you get to choose which hotel you want to stay in. When you’re sick or in an emergency, you don’t always get that luxury.” From that day forward, I knew I had the power to impact people in a profound way by designing facilities that will sometimes literally bookend their lives.
Describe a recent project and a lesson you learned through your work.
Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center in Frisco, Texas, where I was lead designer, responsible for site and master planning, building blocking and stacking, concept development, and exterior design. The lesson that sticks with me most is the importance of developing trust with the client and project team. There were several times when I had to ask that hospital leadership to take a small leap of faith when it came to design decisions, something I couldn’t have done without first developing that trust.
What do you think is the number one issue facing healthcare designers today?
Designing for a system that fails to holistically integrate with the population being served, which results in inequality in access, lack of personalization, and weakened impact on community health.
Share an idea you have for addressing that problem.
More could be done to better integrate outpatient services into the communities they serve. I’ve seen Starbucks stores within blocks of each other—one a shipping container-inspired setting with drive-through service and another a Starbucks Reserve Bar in a mixed-use development. They both stay busy because they reflect their immediate environment, have adjusted their service model, and cater to different people while serving the same product. Why aren’t our healthcare facilities doing more of the same?
What’s your favorite place to go for inspiration?
The Katy Trail in Dallas. Built on an old rail line, it’s a walking, jogging, and biking trail nestled in the heart of the city. A run usually gives me time to think, and I love to do it where there are lots of people to see. A place that combines so many aspects of social activity, health, community, and nature is inspirational for me.
Kim and his research team consisting of Olumide Aruwajoye PhD; Thomas Wesley Mitchell; Michael Kutschke BS; Vishal Gokani BS; and Naga Suresh Adapala PhD surgically induced femoral head osteonecrosis in an experimental model of Legg–Calvé–Perthes Disease. For those unfamiliar, Perthes disease is a childhood hip disorder initiated by a disruption of blood flow to the ball of the femur called the femoral head. Due to the lack of blood flow, the bone dies (osteonecrosis or avascular necrosis) and stops growing. Perthes disease is one of the most common hip disorders in young children, occurring in roughly 5.5 of 100,000 children per year. Perthes disease usually occurs in children aged 4-10 years. Boys are affected about three to five times more often than girls. New cases of Perthes disease rarely occur after age of 14 years. There is no known cure today.
Kim and his team previous found high levels of an inflammation producing protein called interleukin 6 in the hip joints of patients with Perthes disease. Based on this finding, their research hypothesis was that anti-interleukin 6 therapy would improve chronic hip synovitis and promote bone healing in an experimental model of Perthes disease. Dr. Kim is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Hip Disorders at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. His commitment to returning children to their childhood is unfound, and has treated hundreds of Perthes Disease cases in children over the course of his 20-year career.
Findings conducted from this study were positive and significant, as this is the first study to investigate the effects of anti-IL-6 therapy on femoral head osteonecrosis. The results indicated both a decrease in hip synovitis score and significant increase in bone rebuilding. “More funding is needed to continue these research efforts to cure Perthes disease, and the partnership with the Legg Calve Perthes Foundation will help pave the way,” said founder, Colleen Rathgeber.
About Legg Calve Perthes Foundation
The Legg-Calve-Perthes Foundation is a national educational organization dedicated to helping adults and children living with Perthes, and providing support with the associated difficulties that often come with the Perthes diagnosis. The Foundation’s mission is to create a centralized support community to improve the research, education, and awareness of those diagnosed with Perthes.
Contact Information:
Legg Calve Perthes Foundation
Colleen Rathgeber
202-505-9360
Contact via Email
perthes.org
Read the full story here: https://www.pr.com/press-release/767208
View the original story on the Dallas Business Journal website here.
With the new Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children campus just weeks away from opening its doors in Frisco, final touches are being made to the 345,000-square-foot sports medicine facility.
The Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, a five-story ambulatory surgery center with outpatient clinics and walk-in availability, will start accepting patients in October.
The new campus was built to serve North Texas’ growing community and meet the needs of 25 percent of the pediatric hospital’s patients who live in cities north of Dallas, said Jeremy Howell, vice president of Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
Howell said pediatric sports medicine is one of the fastest growing sub-specialties in orthopedics, and the new building, which is anchored by the Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine, will be outfitted with the latest technology that can offer preventative care and conduct valuable research for young athletes.
“We want to be able to come alongside these kids and help them out and hopefully prevent injury,” he said. “But if it happens, we want them to know they’ll be taken care of by the best orthopedic surgeons.”
The facility, which sits on a 40-acre swath of land at the Dallas North Tollway and Lebanon Road near the newly opened Baylor Scott & White Sports Therapy & Research center at The Star, has an outdoor sprint track and a soccer field for patient rehabilitation and research. It also has conference rooms, a walking trail and a playground, all of which will be open for community use.
“It was important for us to give back to the community that has given so much to us,” added Howell.
Dallas-based HKS Inc. is the architect behind the sprawling campus and The Beck Group is the general contractor.
The project’s lead architect, Rachel Knox, said her team met with Scottish Rite staff to get a sense of patients’ emotional needs and how the building’s design could help address them.
“A big driver of the design of this space was to bring in natural light into the patients rooms,” said Knox.
The design also accounted for larger waiting rooms that can comfortably accommodate patients’ families and offer them a little privacy, she added.
One waiting room, the result of a partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities, features an electric fireplace and a play area, making it feel more like a living room than a waiting room.
Knox said a lot of thought went into how to bring the brand of the 96-year-old Dallas hospital to a new building. The signature crayon colors of the Dallas campus were a must, she said. Vibrant primary colors are threaded throughout the new building, from the art to the color-coded floors to a rainbow spiral staircase in the lobby.
“We don’t want it to feel, smell or look like a hospital,” said Howell.
As North Texas continues to grow, the campus is prepared to grow with it. An additional floor and a half of available shell space is spread throughout the building, including four more operating rooms. And it will likely be needed, Howell said. The campus is anticipating 22,000 clinical visits and 13,000 physical therapy visits in its first year.
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DALLAS – Some people’s first thought when they hear about a 13-year-old motivational speaker is probably, “What could I possibly learn from a 13-year-old?”
If that’s what crosses your mind, it’s time to think twice. Malachi Walker was born in 2005, but he has the kind of wisdom some people born in 1975 could use. “My goal with the book is helping other people accomplish their goals and get out of their bad situations,” he explained.
Malachi wrote The Boomerang Effect, which he explains is “the strategy to help you shatter your glass ceiling.” “What you sow you will reap and what you throw you will keep,” he said. “That’s what the boomerang effect is. Your choices come back to you.”
He’s not only an author, but he’s also a budding motivational speaker. At Scottish Rite Hospital’s recent annual book sale, Malachi read and signed The Boomerang Effect for a captive audience of patients and families.
The book features an appropriate title for the speaking appearance, as he was back at the place it all began.
Scottish Rite doctors diagnosed Malachi with a knee problem that kept him out of soccer, his greatest passion, for 13 months. But during those 13 months, he wrote his book. His mother Christina and father Charlie were supportive, but surprised. “When he first told us that he wanted to be a motivational speaker, I remember looking at Charlie, you know – when [Malachi] wasn’t looking at us – and my eyes got really big, and I thought, ‘OK we’re going to help you do that!’
The book is also about being kind, because Malachi has realized how you treat people has an impact on how they treat you in return. That is a lesson the Walkers have worked hard to teach their children. “You never know if they’re going to pick up what you teach them,” Christina said. “It’s neat to see him grab something and do something with it.”
Malachi is practicing his motivational speaking skills by regularly posting videos on his YouTube channel.
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CLEVELAND, Oklahoma –
An 8-year-old girl, who’s had more than 40 broken bones in her young life, got something special during her most recent surgery.
Doctors diagnosed Courtney White with a rare bone disease when she was just a baby after she broke her femur twice in a matter of months.
The condition cause her bones to break easily, which means she spends a lot of time wearing casts.
Her most recent casts – one on each leg – feature Courtney as a super hero.
Courtney now has rod in every major bone in both legs. And doctors recently had to replace a rod in one shin and put a rod in the other.
Before the surgery, doctors at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas challenged Courtney to design her own cast. She drew up Wonder Woman boots because she’s a little warrior.
Her family will tell you, Courtney is a super hero in their eyes every day.
She has Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Type 6. Experts say only 6 to 7 people out of every 100,000 have OI and of those, only 1-percent lives with Type 6.
“We have found that each day is a new experience. We never know day to day what her mobility will look like or what her pain level will be or if we will have another injury,” her dad Justin White said. “That has been life for Courtney, it’s her normal and she has learned to embrace it.”
Courtney has broken 40 bones and has gone through 12 surgeries.
But despite all that, she still lives for adventure. She likes to hunt and fish and spend time with her mom, dad and big sister.
“She knows there are some things that she just won’t be able to do, but she also knows that there are many things that she can do, she’s just going to have to work harder for them than most people,” Justin said. “We’ve tried to teach her not to feel sorry for herself, but instead, accept things as they come and work through them.”
And that’s how she lives her life. He says Courtney is always positive, cheerful and faces every challenge head on – with unflinching faith.
A few days before Courtney’s most recent surgery her grandpa overheard her saying this prayer, “Father, thank you for this wonderful world that I live in, and thank you for my wonderful life. I love you so much, because everything you do is wonderful.”
Her dad says that’s Courtney, the bravest, toughest person he’s ever known.
“Her bones make break often, but her spirit and her faith never do,” her dad said.
