When Amy Henning, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, set up her first private practice in a big, East Coast city, she immediately noticed something that didn’t sit quite right with her. Many of her colleagues were excellent doctors and surgeons, but some of them seemed to be more concerned about their own schedules and reputations than with the welfare of their patients.
“Ego was a problem,” says Henning. “Every situation was ‘How can I do this in a way that suits me, not the patient.’ And I have a problem with that—some things can’t wait until the next day.”
After 12 years in the U.S. Navy, including medical school, her internships, and residency, Henning was used to a more collegial atmosphere, where everyone worked as a unit to solve each problem. She desperately wanted to be part of that kind of team in the private sector. And about three and a half years ago she found that team—at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock.
“I absolutely love it,” says Henning. “We have all the specialists we need here, and everyone works well together. In my prior practice, it was difficult to get a team together to take care of a kid. Here, on almost every occasion, it works like clockwork. Everyone is looking out for the kid and not themselves.”
Seasoned Navy Vet MD finds covenant children are a haven for kid-centric care.
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Whether it’s a second opinion on a complex diagnosis or a second pair of hands on a complicated surgery, Henning says that, at Covenant, a qualified colleague always has her back and she has theirs. For instance, an older child came into Covenant with a hip condition known as a SCFE (Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis). Two days after his surgery, the child decided to come off crutches and play tackle football, coming away with a bad fracture through the newly installed hardware.
“We all got together, looked at the images, and made a plan of how to best take care of the problem,” says Henning. “We did it together.”
They performed the surgery together, too, making the tricky repair go much more smoothly and quickly, shaving an hour off the multiple-hour surgery. Within two more years, the kid was back to playing football.
“An hour is huge when you’re under anesthesia and you’re a kid,” says Henning.
Henning says the other Covenant difference is that, since it’s a free-standing children’s hospital, the doctors, nurses, and staff are all focused on treating the patients like kids.
“We have the mentality here, more so than other places, that we’re going to do things in a kid-centric and kid-friendly way,” says Henning. “This hospital does it so well: treating kids like kids, not like little adults.”
"This hospital does it so well: treating kids like kids, not like little adults."
“An hour is huge when you’re under anesthesia and you’re a kid,” says Henning.
Henning says the other Covenant difference is that, since it’s a free-standing children’s hospital, the doctors, nurses, and staff are all focused on treating the patients like kids.
“We have the mentality here, more so than other places, that we’re going to do things in a kid-centric and kid-friendly way,” says Henning. “This hospital does it so well: treating kids like kids, not like little adults.”
