Healthcare Hero: Dr. Sheryl Allen-Bracey: Assistant Professor, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, Supervisor of Emergency Receiving and Assistant Program Director/Coordinator of the Youth Injury Prevention Initiative, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center
Dr. Sheryl Allen-Bracey's journey to becoming one of Cincinnati's healthcare heroes began when she was four years old standing in an Indianapolis Toys R Us store with her mother doing some pre-Christmas shopping. When her mother asked her what she wanted, she said, "I want a doctor's kit." From that day forward, she says, "I knew what she wanted and pursued it."
During the second year of residency training in Chicago, she spent one critical month in the pediatric urgent care unit of the Cook County Hospital. There, she saw first hand how the care for a child could be critically improved by listening carefully to the parents and keeping them informed and connected to their child while under urgent care treatment and decided that pediatric emergency care was what she wanted to improve as a doctor. "You improve the outcome for the child by making the best diagnosis possible," she says, and that begins with "listening to the parent or the mom, not because the mom knows medicine but because Mom knows her child and she needs to be listened to."
In 1998, when she had completed her residency in Chicago, she set her eyes on practicing at Cincinnati Children's Medical Center because it was one of the biggest and best in the nation. "If I did well in Cincinnati," she says, I thought, I can do well anywhere."
Her mission is a two fold one that meshes seamlessly with that of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, which is to insure that "you and your child will benefit from improved safety and outcomes along with easier access to the resources we offer. Most importantly, Cincinnati Children's empowers you and your child by including you as part of the health care team."
Dr. Allen-Bracey says one half of her job as the gateway or front door for the majority of patients who come to Children's is to "involve" the parents by making sure that they know at each step the "how and why" of their child's urgent care treatment and their role post-treatment, as well as educating pediatric doctors in residency training about how to improve their practice by involving and listening their patient's parents. The other half of her work at Children's, preventing injuries to children, takes her into inner-city churches to give training and support for car safety for children, involves her in working with parents of children in Headstart programs on the same car safety issues of using seat belts and booster seats, and into local high schools to work on violence prevention.
When asked how she avoids "burnout" under the stress of working with children and their families during emergencies, she said, "When your work and the overall goal of your organization are the same -- helping children -- you don"t think about burnout, you think about the talent you were given and this is what you are supposed to do." In addition, she says her community injury prevention work, as well as her work with the Family Advisory Council adds balance that helps her. She also notes that the support and understanding of her husband who is a firefighter and EMT gives her additional balance.
When your attitude about your work, as Dr. Allen-Bracey's is, "you think about the talent you were given and this is what you are supposed to do." you don"t think of your work as heroic. Heroes are heroes in the eyes of those who watch them, work with them, or are treated by them.
Dr. Allen-Bracey's mentor, co-worker and supervisor, is Dr. Victor Garcia, Professor and Director of the Division of Pediatric and Thoracic Surgery, Cincinnati Children's Hospital. He sees her is as "a trail blazer, a paradigm creator, bridging the gap between doctors, parents and patients." " Residents, parents and children trust her and confide in her, he says and "through her efforts, unintentional auto-related injuries in tour area have decreased and people are becoming more educated about proper safety. In the emergency room, her patients are also taught about proper injury prevention tactics and safety practices."
Dr. Allen-Bracey is the first minority female supervisor of pediatric emergency care, and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Member, the Family Advisory Council of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the Urban League, and the Women's Faculty Association, Member, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center"
Copyright: Ned Hamson 2005