Giving Well - Fall 2012 - (Page 4)

Mackenzie Grace is the biggest blessing I could’ve ever dreamed to receive. God chose me to be her mother, and I am honored. She brings joy and light into my life every day, and I hope she learns as much from me as I do from her. I love her more than life, and I am so thankful that we are alive and healthy and get to spend our lives growing together.” —Karlie Zimmerman Thirty-one-year-old Karlie had a dream pregnancy. She never had morning sickness. Her ankles never swelled. She never complained. At her 38-week prenatal appointment, her doctor decided to do a planned induction because the baby was getting big. On Jan. 16, the couple arrived at Erlanger, took pictures in the parking garage and then headed to triage. Soon after, Karlie settled into her room and was started on IVs. It wasn’t long before her contractions began. But by the next day she still wasn’t dilating, and the baby wasn’t tolerating the Pitocin, a medication used to start the contractions. Her doctor decided a c-section would be best. The couple called Karlie’s mom and sisters, Kera and Kristiana Zimmerman, who are also nurses. Karlie later got an epidural. Then, her oxygen saturation rates starting dropping. As she sat in bed with her mom and her sister Kera, she said she had to cough. Suddenly, her eyes rolled back, and she made a snorting noise. That’s when she was wheeled across the hall and later miraculously brought back to life, minutes before her daughter was delivered. Matt aimlessly paced the hall. This had to be a nightmare, he thought. “Scared wouldn’t be the word,” Matt says. “It was unearthly. I felt like this couldn’t really be happening. This was not what I planned. It’s not what I thought having a baby would be like.” Cooling, Healing, Thriving Mackenzie was transferred to the NICU at T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, which is on the same campus as the adult hospital. It’s the region’s only Level III NICU—the highest level assigned by the state of Tennessee. “I knew she was in good hands,” Irene says. She knew her newest granddaughter would thrive in the NICU at Children’s Hospital, surrounded by specially trained nurses, neonatologists and other staff. Irene herself had cared for many babies in similar situations there. Mackenzie immediately began cooling therapy, or therapeutic hypothermia. The idea is to cool the baby’s body temperature so the brain will require less oxygen, slow her organs down and allow her body to heal. It’s a protocol used at Children’s Hospital and other leading hospitals for babies deprived of oxygen at birth. Irene knew it well. What she didn’t know, however, was that the same method would be used to minimize her daughter’s brain damage. Karlie was put in an induced coma while her body was cooled to 32 degrees Celsius for 24 hours. The next day, her body temperature was carefully and strategically warmed by around a half-degree per hour. Likewise, Mackenzie’s body temperature was rewarmed slowly. Nationwide statistics show that one out of six patients who undergo hypothermia protocol recover. Soon after coming out of the coma, Karlie gave her family an incredible gift. She opened her eyes. On the Cutting-Edge of Cooling Therapy Ten years ago, Erlanger Health System was one of five hospitals in the country that took part in a clinical research trial called “Cooling for Acute Ischemic Brain Damage,” also known as Cool AID. Tom Devlin, M.D., director of the Southeast Regional Stroke Center at Erlanger—the Southeast’s first and only accredited primary stroke center— not only conducted the study in Chattanooga but also helped write the cooling therapy protocol that exists today at leading hospitals like Erlanger. And now the procedure can be used to help a variety of patients—from those suffering cardiac arrest to newborns like Mackenzie Grace. A happy family: Matt Snyder, Karlie Zimmerman and Mackenzie Grace. 4 erlangerfoundations.org http://www.erlangerfoundations.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Giving Well - Fall 2012

Giving Well - Fall 2012
Becoming a Family
Erlanger Is a Caring Neighbor and a Trusted Friend
Find Out How Much Erlanger Gives Back to the Community

Giving Well - Fall 2012