Outside of her work as a third-year internal medicine resident at Rush University Medical Center, Erica Park, MD, loves to have “fun, random adventures.” Park recently had a particularly exciting adventure when she helped save a man’s life at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

On her way to interview for a gastroenterology fellowship, Park was searching for a place to charge her cellphone when she heard someone desperately call out for a doctor.

A man who had been experiencing chest pain earlier had become unresponsive while waiting with a friend at a gate for a flight. Park and two off-duty emergency medical technicians who were also waiting for flights went to work.

“I could not feel a carotid pulse, so we started compressions, and I asked for a defibrillator,” Park recalls. “We ended up doing three rounds of compressions and two shocks. Just as EMS arrived and began to do compressions, the gentleman regained consciousness, so they took him to the nearest hospital.”

Fresh from recently finishing her rotation in the cardiac ICU, Park said her training instantly kicked in.

“While we were resuscitating him, I just kept going through our BLS (Basic Life Support Training) and ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Training) steps we had learned while in residency,” she says. “It’s definitely different from a code in the hospital, since you don’t have all the supplies and medicine. I just kept telling myself to keep going with compressions and shocks, since that’s all we really had at the time.”

Helping people in need is nothing new for Park, who hails from Indiana. Inspired at a young age by her father, also a physician, she knew her calling would be in health care.

After the incident, Park went on her way, hoping for the best. Any hint of nervousness about her fellowship interview the next morning in California vanished with a phone call.

“I was really happy and relieved when I got the call the saying that he was doing OK in the hospital,” she says. “I was actually in my Lyft on the way to my interview when I received the call, so it was a good way start to my morning.”​

By Anne Sammarco, MD, MPH

One of the best parts of my job as a urogynecologist is the moment when a patient realizes that there are treatment options available for her. I have spent years training and focusing my attention on the pelvic floor — and it’s sometimes easy to forget that these issues aren’t getting the publicity they deserve.

Although these issues are getting more attention in mainstream media outlets, like the New York Times, BBC News and Cosmopolitan magazine, we still have work to do to get the message out to women: While common, these are not conditions they need to suffer with silently.

Pelvic floor disorders include pelvic organ prolapse (where the bladder, bowel and uterus can fall downward out of the vagina), urinary incontinence, accidental bowel leakage (sometimes called fecal incontinence), and difficult or painful intercourse.

These issues can affect women of any age, but they become more common with age and after childbirth. Because these can be very personal or embarrassing issues, women don’t always feel comfortable speaking about them openly — even to their doctors. That doesn’t mean, however, that they don’t have a major impact on women’s quality of life.

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Angela Moss, assistant dean for faculty practice in the College of Nursing and nurse practitioner and Gina Lowell, director of community health for pediatrics and pediatrician, discuss Rush’s participation in the Family Connects Chicago program and how it supports our West Side community families.

Moss is one of the nurse leaders operationalizing Rush’s contributions to the Chicago Department of Public Health’s pilot rollout of Family Connects Chicago. Lowell was the co-chair of the city task force and was instrumental in bringing the service to CDPH.

Q: Please explain how the Family Connects Chicago program works?

Lowell: Family Connects Chicago is a service provided voluntarily to families with newborns in the city of Chicago. About three weeks after a baby is born, a community health or public health nurse engages with families in their homes to provide a holistic assessment of family well-being.

The nurse first meets with families after the birth of their baby while they recover on the Mother Baby Unit. Families are offered the service and a date for the nurse visit to their home is set.  The visit itself takes about two hours, during which the mother’s health, infant’s health, family well-being and material needs or supports are identified. The nurse then provides both on-the-spot assistance as well as connections to the resources and referrals to support each family’s unique set of needs.

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Rush is proud t​o support veterans of the U.S. military by providing both employment opportunities and the specialized care many vets need. One of them is Sergio Alfaro, an Army veteran and Epic technical trainer at Rush University Medical Center​. In a powerful testimonial, Alfaro openly shares how a tour of duty forever changed his life and mental health and how Rush and other organizations help him cope with his new normal. ​

As a veteran of the armed forces, I volunteered years of my life for this country, and the impact of it has left lasting marks that have carried on past a decade now.

It may not be difficult to grasp that even one year in Iraq serving as a medic for the Army has left me with experiences that I grapple with to this day. What is harder to understand is the devastation that can be left in the wake of battling with mental illness.

My family and I have lived​ with post-traumatic stress disorder for the past 15 years of my life, which has also resulted in a major depressive disorder for the past seven years. My existence has been put at risk not just at war, but now at home as I struggle to reintegrate myself into civilian life.

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By Marquis Pitts

I’m from West Garfield Park, a great neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. When you hear West Garfield Park, you probably think of two things:

1. The Garfield Park Conservatory, a landmark of Chicago
2. Crime or violence

I hope after reading this you’ll understand that there is a lot more to West Garfield Park.

I am 21 years old, and I’ve spent all 21 of those years in West Garfield Park. Based on the studies Rush and other groups have done, if I continue living in West Garfield Park, I’ve got about 48 years left. That’s right, the average life expectancy in West Garfield Park is 69 years old.

In the Loop it’s 85. Given that I’m an African-American male, other studies and statistics would say I’m lucky to get to that age, or even my current age. But I’m here to tell you I am more than a data point or statistic. I’m a person with a goal, a plan on how to achieve it, and I have the support of my family and community to help me get there.

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By Soumya Padala, BDS, MDS, MS

I see myself as a smile architect.

As an orthodontist, I make tangible changes in my patients’ lives by making visible changes to their teeth and jaws. I know some patients might be fearful of going to see an orthodontist, but I assure them that I’m all about smiles — not pain. I’m also all about education. As an educator and clinician, I love explaining and answering any questions a patient might have.

One question I often get asked is: What is the difference between an orthodontist and a dentist? The simple answer is that all orthodontists are dentists, but not all dentists are orthodontists.

To become a dentist, you must go to dental school for four years of general dental education. You can then choose to practice general dentistry or complete two to three years of specialty training in an accredited residency program. Once you finish that additional training, you are able to use the title that reflects your chosen specialty:

• Orthodontists focus on the bite, including safely moving teeth, and guiding the healthy development and alignment of the teeth and jaw.
• Endodontists specialize in root canals.
• Periodontists address gum- and bone-related diseases of the oral cavity.
• Pediatric dentists specialize in providing oral health care to infants, adolescents, teens and young adults up to age 18-19.
• Oral and maxillofacial surgeons perform surgery of the face, mouth and jaw.

There’s a common misconception that you should see an orthodontist only if you need braces, and that most orthodontic patients are tweens and teens. But I provide orthodontic care for everyone from newborns to senior citizens.

For the newborns, I assist with molding their ears, nose and jaws. For all other ages, I offer a full range of treatments to modify jaw growth; relieve TMD (jaw-joint related issues) symptoms; improve breathing and speech; and align teeth and improving smile aesthetics and function — including, of course, removable or fixed appliances such as braces or aligners. I also provide customized appliances to assist with surgical care of patients undergoing craniofacial surgeries.

It is imperative that while receiving orthodontic care, you continue to see your dentist or other dental specialists regularly — for preventive care to protect against dental disease and gum diseases, and to check for or treat oral health issues such as bone loss and tooth decay.

If you have crooked teeth, gaps between your teeth, a misaligned jaw or any other problems that are standing in the way of a confident smile, schedule an appointment with me, a passionate educator, clinician and board-certified orthodontist. I will work with you to develop a customized solution to help you put your best face forward.

Soumya Padala, BDS, MDS, MS, is a board-certified orthodontists who offers comprehensive care of the teeth and jaws for children and adults. She is also the lead orthodontist in the Rush Orthodontics and Craniofacial Center.

By Padraic Stanley

What can we do as an institution to make sure Rush is a welcoming place for everyone? How can we ensure Rush is a safe place for patients to heal, for staff and providers to thrive, and for students to excel?

The answer is difficult and complex, and it’s going to take all of us working together. Thankfully, we have our I CARE values to ground us. This year, Rush participated in the YMCA’s Welcoming Week through a campaign that highlighted the different ways Rush is becoming more welcoming for everyone. The idea behind the Y’s campaign is to remind us that our communities are much “stronger and more vibrant when everyone feels welcome and can fully contribute their unique talents for the greater good.” The Y’s initiative offers integration support to immigrants so they can thrive and contribute to the overall strength of the community.

Rush is taking on a similar commitment to being a welcoming health care institution, led by some of our most innovative and passionate staff, and all are working together to make sure Rush is a welcoming place — for everyone. Becoming a welcoming institution involves not only being kind and helpful, but also going the extra mile to ensure people feel welcome and safe while they are here, and even helping to empower them outside of our walls. I would love for any Rush student or employee to take some time to reflect and think about how they can be more welcoming to everyone at Rush.

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