Living Easier and Stronger with Sickle Cell Anemia

Melinda Crosby and University Hospitals are lifelong friends. UH has helped her cope with sickle cell anemia since she was 9 years old.

“Doctors and nurses at UH understand each person with sickle cell anemia is different,” she says. “They do whatever they can to help.” For that, she’s grateful.

Sickle cell anemia is an inherited condition affecting mostly African-Americans in which normally round red blood cells are shaped like sickles. Patients can have problems when the sickle-shaped blood cells attempt to pass through small blood vessels in the joints, causing pain, fatigue, joint troubles and other problems.

Melinda, now 41, has been managing the chronic illness for 32 years. “I get aches and pains and have no energy,” she says. Sometimes the whites of her eyes turn yellow. Symptoms worsen in cold weather. Even minor infections “can blow up into a crisis,” as she learned after knee surgery a few years ago.

When her symptoms flare up, as they often do, she comes to UH.

“UH knows what they’re doing,” Melinda says. “They have dedicated physicians for each patient, and the nurses are wonderful.”

Sickle Cell Fast Track Clinic

To make care easier for sickle cell patients, UH created the Sickle Cell Fast Track Clinic. Fast Track allows patients with an established physician relationship who experience a sickle cell pain crisis to call Fast Track and immediately come to the UH Seidman Cancer Center Infusion Center for pain relief, IV fluids and other treatment, bypassing the emergency department and avoiding unnecessary medical costs.

Exciting Advancements in Sickle Cell Research

John Letterio, MD, Chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital’s Angie Fowler Child and Young Adult Cancer Institute and Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, along with a team of physician-scientists have made an exciting discovery in the treatment of sickle cell disease. The team has identified the importance of Nrf2, a protein involved in the survival of red blood cells, and hope further exploration of this therapeutic target leads to new and improved treatment options for patients. Dr. Letterio plans to validate the findings in a series of clinical trials starting this fall.

Healthier Career Opportunities through Health Professions Education

A year ago Shakiir Jordan was making an hourly wage in a restaurant. Destiny Ramos worked nights as an aide in a nursing home. Today, thanks to the NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts & Technology, Shakiir and Destiny are studying to become phlebotomy technicians. Phlebotomy technicians primarily draw patients’ blood for testing and can be gainfully employed at hospitals, clinics, private practices, diagnostic laboratories and blood banks.

NewBridge provides career training for unemployed and underemployed adults, as well as after-school artsbased programs for urban high school students. Recognizing the need to create meaningful jobs and target high-demand health care professions, University Hospitals, NewBridge and other partners identified careers, such as phlebotomy technicians and pharmacy technicians, for the adult training program and supported NewBridge with operational funding.

Students like Shakiir and Destiny attend classes for six hours a day, five days a week in anatomy, physiology, specimen collection and processing techniques, and computer skills. They learn how to apply for jobs and interview successfully. After four months of study and a fourweek hospital internship, they’re ready to go to work.

For Shakiir, 28, NewBridge promises a solid future and more. “I’m learning skills so I’ll be prepared to walk into a job,” says Shakiir, who hopes someday to do autopsies at the county morgue. “With this, I can be more. I want to learn more,” he says, then quietly adds he earned a 4.0 GPA in his NewBridge classes.

Destiny, too, sees a brighter future for herself and her 2-year-old son. “NewBridge helped me realize my dream of becoming a registered nurse could now become a reality.”

Educating the Next Generation of Health Professionals

Training future health care professionals is the foundation of academic medicine. Physician residency and fellowship programs allow doctors to train in general medicine or specialize in a specific field through time-intensive programs that range from three to eight years after medical school.

As an academic medical center, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home to a long-standing medical education program, training more than 900 adult and pediatric physicians, as well as 2,200 nurses and allied health professionals each year. These professionals often go on to provide care in our local community, as well as communities throughout the nation, many of which experience physician shortages. These shortages, in both primary and specialty care, result in longer wait times for appointments, often causing delay of care.

The physician training programs through UH Case Medical Center, University Hospitals Richmond Medical Center, A Campus of UH Regional Hospitals and UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital receive funding to support health professionals’ education through federal programs such as the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program and the Medicare Graduate Medical Education program.

Hope without Hindrances

Cancer survivor Robert Corbett is grateful to be alive. He’s also thankful for a financial plan offered by University Hospitals that allowed him to be treated successfully for rectal cancer without worrying about the cost.

The Cleveland Heights resident, 60, went to a free clinic in May 2010 for what he thought were hemorrhoids, but when doctors found a tumor the size of a baseball, the diagnosis was far grimmer: stage 3 rectal cancer.

Without delay, Robert was admitted to UH for surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. He was uninsured, but it didn’t matter.

UH caregivers began treatment without asking a single financial question – something Robert will never forget – and provided him with charity care. UH offers charity care for uninsured patients through its Hospital Charity/Financial Assistance Program in order to allow patients such as Robert to receive the high-quality health care they need.

Robert was so grateful for the care he received that he participated in a voluntary clinical trial involving post-surgical treatment. “They did so much for me,” he says. “I wanted to give back.”

Robert is now cancer-free. He urges people over 55 to have colonoscopies, something he admits he delayed. “I have a new appreciation for my family. I have new priorities. This was like I’d gone to the bottom. I’m still coming up, but I’m alive.”

Active Senior Skills

University Hospitals is helping seniors take their health into their own hands through a variety of seminars and activities offered at UH medical centers throughout Northeast Ohio. From exercise routines to question and answer sessions with a physician, UH strives to provide innovative programs and services to enhance the well-being of seniors and help them maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. The following programs provide access to prevention and wellness techniques and information that allows seniors to stay strong, independent and energized: