Patient Stories

Computer navigation helps spine surgery patients get their lives back

Norton Children’s orthopedic surgeons are using computer navigation technology to treat kids and teenagers with scoliosis and other spine deformities. The technology, called 7D, is an imaging guidance system designed to aid surgeons in the operating room. Norton Children’s Hospital is the first pediatric hospital in Kentucky to use the technology. “With most spine surgeries,…

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Employee stories - Norton Childrens

Norton Children’s nurse spends 3 decades helping heart patients

It’s not a job; it’s a passion spanning 33 years. During that time, Mary Jo McIver has helped save the lives of countless patients undergoing heart surgery.  “I love hearts,” she said. Mary Jo began her career as a nurse’s aide at Norton Hospital while in nursing school. Even before graduating in 1991, she knew…

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Employee stories - Norton Childrens

Boundless compassion: Going the extra mile — literally — on the cold streets of downtown

The mother in the pediatrician’s office with her baby seemed distressed as she spoke with the receptionist. Mom wasn’t sure of the location of her child’s appointment and was, unfortunately, at the wrong clinic near downtown Louisville on a cold winter morning. What happened next shows how one Norton Healthcare employee’s compassion and dedication —…

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Cancer, Patient Stories

Osteosarcoma isn’t slowing down this Kentucky teen

Abby Wimsatt is excited for the future after receiving a unique operation to treat bone cancer in her leg. Last year, Abby, a 14-year-old from Cecilia, Kentucky, developed knee pain. At first the gymnast and her family chalked it up to an injury. But after pain wouldn’t go away, Abby was scheduled for an MRI,…

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Child Abuse Prevention, Prevention & Wellness

Questions to ask before leaving your child with someone

As child abuse rates in Kentucky remain higher than the national average, keeping children healthy and safe is every person’s priority. If you’re raising kids, are a caregiver for kids or spend time around kids — make a plan for how to deal with challenging times that are bound to happen. Here’s what you can…

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Child Abuse Prevention, Childrens Hospital Foundation, News

Norton Children’s opens center dedicated to helping child abuse victims

Kentucky continues to have a child abuse rate higher than the national average. Today, Norton Children’s, Home of the Innocents, state officials and the community opened the new Norton Children’s Center for Safe and Healthy Kids. Located on the Home of the Innocents campus in Louisville, the center will serve thousands of patients from across…

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Health & Wellness

A provider’s perspective: What you need to know about child sexual abuse

Content disclosure: This post will discuss the challenging but very important topic of child sexual abuse.  It was at the height of the pandemic, and I found myself on a video call with my patient’s mom as she experienced a living nightmare. “Your daughter is being assessed for child sexual abuse.” Like me, this patient’s mom…

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Neurosciences, News, Patient Stories

New epilepsy monitoring unit helps Louisville firefighter’s daughter

Bryce Carden’s name might sound familiar. He’s the Louisville firefighter who heroically rescued a woman trapped in a semi hanging off the side of the Clark Memorial Bridge earlier this year. The team at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of medicine, was able to play hero for Bryce’s daughter, Oaklynn, thanks…

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Child Abuse Prevention

Kentucky’s rate of child abuse continues to outpace the national average

The Child Maltreatment 2022 report, released this year by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Children’s Bureau, found Kentucky’s rate of child abuse victims in Kentucky was 12.3 per 1,000 children. That means about a dozen kids out of every 1,000 children in Kentucky experienced some form of maltreatment during 2022. Indiana’s rate…

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Employee stories - Norton Healthcare, Heart, Heart Transplant

Meet the Norton Children’s surgeon who delivers every heart transplant

It’s a phone call pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Deborah J. Kozik, D.O., has received more than 100 times. One of her patients has been waiting months for a new heart. On this morning, a donor heart in another state has become available. There’s little time to waste. Dr. Kozik and the team are on a plane…

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Diabetes, Endocrinology, Research

Inhaled form of insulin studied for children and adolescents

Children and adolescents with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes may no longer need injections of insulin if a new inhaled form of insulin is found to be safe and effective. “Some kids — especially kids who have been diagnosed recently — can have a difficult time getting used to injections. This formulation is a…

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Fetal Care, Heart, Interrupted Aortic Arch, Patient Stories, Ventricular Septal Defect

Hybrid heart surgery saves baby’s life

When Jessica and Jarrod Hogue left Norton Hospital without their newborn, they had no idea what to make of the following days, let alone years. On March 12, 2021, the Hogues welcomed their baby, Hudson, into the world nine weeks early due to a very complex congenital heart defect. As a chronic planner, Jessica had…

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