We want to change the way America cares for children, for families, and for communities.
“Bopp…Bopp… Bopp…Yes…Yes…Yes!” When she first heard her first sound, we were
so happy we didn’t even cry, if that makes sense.
Our ultimate goal is to get her to spoken language.
“Hi Daddy!” “Hi Chloe!”
“Daddy!” Being able to provide enough hearing for the
child to develop speech and hearing, I mean, that’s a miracle.
“The fireworks go over the tree.” My dream has come true and that’s because
of them. “We’re going to go right in here, ok buddy?”
The craniofacial cleft lip and palate team is the only accredited craniofacial team in
the state of Nebraska. Our team follows about 500 individual children.
We meet every week and we see anywhere from 10 to 12 children a week.
We really want to have an impact. We know we have a local impact. We have a regional
impact because of the distance to get to another team and we have an international impact.
About 50 of our kids out of the 500 we see in the clinic, are internationally adopted
many from China. Those boys wouldn’t be where they are today
without the services that they’ve gotten from that team.
The fact that we’ve been able to provide that to them through Boys Town has just been
amazing. I could not imagine doing it without Boys
Town. This is not easy but it’s doable. We have the support, we have the resources, to make
these kid's lives amazing, and that in turn makes our lives amazing.
As part of Boys Town, we provide medically-directed residential care for children with serious
behavioral health problems. We see lots of kids with depression, post-traumatic
stress disorder, anxiety disorders and other disruptive behavior disorders, such as ADHD
and conduct disorder. To work on their treatment so that they can
successfully reintegrate into a family style setting is what we do.
The thing I want people to know about Boys Town Pediatrics is we have amazing access
and availability to our patients. This is like nothing I’ve ever seen in other
clinics. Literally, 24 hours a day, there’s a nurse you can talk to, hotline operator,
or front desk staff to schedule you an appointment with a physician.
Our patients can see a doctor from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. almost seven days a week.
Some of the best scientists in the world are right here.
We’re really a comprehensive center that focuses on neurosensory function in humans.
It’s very rewarding to work in a place where you can see projects go all the way from the
bench to the bed side. The research team, here at Boys Town, has
made very important contributions to the technology around newborn hearing screening.
A number of investigations here have led to improved ways to measure hearing in tiny babies,
and also, improved ways to fit hearing aids in these teeny, tiny ears.
We built this building, the Lied Learning & Technology Center, to have distance education
capabilities. We have a team, led by Dr. Cathy Carotta, that
is working with providers in Guam. About twice a year, a team of professionals
from Boys Town actually travels to Guam. The providers in Guam are benefitting from learning
about how to work on home visits with families, helping them develop knowledge and skills
to parent a baby who is deaf or hard of hearing. They have also benefitted greatly from our
audiological services. When I started here 35 years ago, I had no
idea that our impact could reach well beyond our physical boundaries and support children,
who are deaf and hard of hearing and their families, across the globe.
Working at Boys Town National Research Hospital is all about the mission.
The challenge we have before us is that our mission never ends but that’s why we come
to work every day. To improve care, to change the way America
cares for children, families and communities.