Join Atrium Health Levine Children’s Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital in Raising Awareness about Sickle Cell Disease
September is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month and Atrium Health Levine Children’s Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital honors the young patients who live with sickle cell disease by raising awareness about the genetic condition.
Georgia ranks third in the nation with more than 10,000 individuals living with sickle cell disease, according to a 2021 Georgia State Senate Study Committee on Sickle Cell Anemia report. The disease affects about 100,000 Americans, and about 2,000 babies are born annually with sickle cell anemia, according to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.
Atrium Health Navicent HOPE for Kids (Hematology Oncology Place of Excellence), a facility of Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center, offers outpatient care for children with cancer and blood disorders, including sickle cell disease.
“Parents and caregivers, you’re not alone,” said Dr. Abigail Cruz, an Atrium Health Navicent pediatric hematology and oncology specialist. “Our team of expert physicians, nurses and staff provide comprehensive care that’s close to home for children suffering from this lifelong, and often unpredictable disease.”
Sickle cell disease is an inherited form of anemia, a condition caused when the body does not produce enough healthy red blood cells to adequately carry oxygen throughout the body. Patients with sickle cell disease have red blood cells that become rigid, sticky and shaped like crescent moons that may become stuck in small blood vessels and slow or block blood flow and oxygen to various parts of the body. The blood cells may also die prematurely, causing jaundice, gall stones and injuries to organs, including the spleen, kidneys, lungs and brain. Symptoms of the condition include anemia, episodes of pain, swollen extremities, frequent infections, lung injuries, delayed growth, vision problems and stroke.
To inherit the disease, a child must have two parents who carry the sickle cell gene. It is estimated that about 1 in 13 Black babies is born with a sickle cell trait, which means they have inherited one sickle cell gene from one parent and one normal gene from the other parent. People with the sickle cell trait usually do not have any of the signs of the disease and live a normal life, but they can pass the trait on to their children.HOPE for Kids offers a child-friendly medical office where patients receive outpatient infusion therapy and laboratory testing. Services are also available at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital, the region’s only dedicated pediatric hospital.
Atrium Health Navicent also provides care for south Georgia children diagnosed with sickle cell disease at the Phoebe Pediatric Specialty Clinic in Albany as part of a partnership to provide access to expanded services, including virtual and in-person pediatric specialty consultations, the most advanced pediatric diagnostics available and the latest state-of-theart medical treatments close to home.
For more information about services for children, visit https://childrenshospitalnh.org/
About Atrium Health Navicent
Atrium Health Navicent is the leading provider of health care in central and south Georgia and is committed to its mission of elevating health and wellbeing through compassionate care. Atrium Health Navicent is part of Advocate Health, which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Navicent provides high-quality, personalized care in 53 specialties at more than 50 facilities throughout the region. As part of the largest, integrated, nonprofit health system in the Southeast, it is also able to tap into some of the nation’s leading medical experts and specialists with Atrium Health, allowing it to provide the best care close to home – including advanced innovations in virtual medicine and care. Throughout its 125-year history in the community, Atrium Health Navicent has remained dedicated to enhancing health and wellness for individuals throughout the region through nationally recognized quality care, community health initiatives and collaborative partnerships. It is also one of the leading teaching hospitals in the region, helping to ensure viability for rural health care for the next generation. For more information, please visit www.NavicentHealth.org.
About Advocate Health
Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the United States – created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois, Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health services nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. It is nationally recognized for its expertise in cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs 155,000 teammates across 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations and offers one of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to providing equitable care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.