DESIGNED WITH THE CHILD IN MIND ... An emergency medical visit to a hospital can be an anxiety-inducing event — especially for a child. That's why Stanford Medicine Children's Health designed its new Pediatric Emergency Department to be a calming space for young patients and parents. The department at 900 Quarry Road opened its doors on Aug. 10. It takes on a "mountains-to-ocean river theme," as seen through serene nature scenes and images of otters and other friendly animals. "This new space gives us the opportunity to meet children and their parents where they are with design elements and visual imagery that strives to put them more at ease even when discussing potentially serious concerns," Dr. Andra Blomkalns, professor and chair of emergency medicine at Stanford's School of Medicine, said in a press release. The department has two triage rooms and 15 patient care rooms, three of which are dedicated to critical resuscitation and trauma needs. Previously, the department was located in the repurposed adult emergency department. "Children and their families have unique, distinct needs for emergency care that differ from those of adults," Stanford Health Care President and CEO David Entwistle said "We've been fortunate to have a unique opportunity to design this space specifically for children, whether from neighboring communities or from across the country, who need urgent access to both routine and specialized care."
TEAM BUILDING ... Palo Alto Unified students are getting back into the swing of things now that the school year has begun. There was plenty of preparation work that happened before the first day of classes, including getting into the right mindset. At a kickoff event for staff earlier this month, Superintendent Don Austin launched "PAUSD Builders," during which district employees were invited to give kudos to their colleagues. Donning a white hard hat, Austin described how the idea of "builders" reminds him of his dad and dad's co-workers at Caltrans. The campaign also was inspired by "A Builder or a Wrecker," a poem by Charles Franklin Benvegar and the priority of serving and celebrating others, as stated in the district's long-term plan, the PAUSD Promise. "I think we can do a much better job at the in-the-moment awards, the in-the-moment celebration," Austin said at the event, which was captured on video. "The time when we can make someone feel special because they did something special for somebody else." He brought out five staff members, who were each welcomed to the stage with a yellow hard hat and recognized for their work. More hard hats were passed to the rest of the audience, He then passed the mic to other staff who voluntarily came up, praised a co-worker and passed their hard hat to them. The district posted the positive shoutouts staff wrote about their colleagues online on its website at pausd.org/builders.
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