In the News

Hennepin Healthcare Pediatrician Dr. Subrahmanian says the most important thing is vaccination. He also encourages parents to ask camps lots of questions.

Dr. Jed Gorlin is the medical director of Memorial Blood Centers and head of transfusion at Children’s Hospital and Hennepin Healthcare. He said last week that it isn’t a crisis — yet.

“Bottom line is we are stretched. Nobody is being denied a transfusion, but we have less on our inventories than we would like to see,” he said.

“The water is obviously inviting and it doesn’t look scary to kids,” said Dr. Ashley Bjorklund, medical director of pediatric critical care at Hennepin Healthcare.

Hennepin Healthcare Diabetes Pharmacist Laura Traynor knows the struggle well. “We see all the time patients not taking their medications or rationing their medications because they can’t afford them,” Traynor said.

According to a hospital spokesperson, HCMC’s efforts came after an analysis showed housing instability accounting for a high rate of 30-day readmissions; of patient charts reviewed by HCMC, three in four fell into this group.

“We’re really grateful that Bernie is our friend and our community member. He’s an incredible asset to our institution,” said Dr. Krishnan Subrahmanian, a pediatrician at Hennepin Healthcare.

At Hennepin Healthcare, about 85% of employees had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of June 7, while 81% of staff at Mayo Clinic’s facilities in the Midwest have had at least one shot, health system spokeswomen said. At Allina Health, more than 70% of employees are two weeks past their final shot.

Dr. Krishnan Subrahmanian, a pediatrician with Hennepin Healthcare, says many young patients aren’t screened until they begin playing sports and need a Minnesota State High School League physical. “The process is simply about asking questions,” Subrahmanian says. “Have you ever fainted or passed out, particularly in response to exercise or loud noises? have you ever had exercise-related chest pain?”

Hennepin Healthcare has also seen a record number of heat-related sicknesses this month. There have been 13 patients since June 4 of this year in comparison to just six patients last June.

“The odd thing isn’t that it’s happening but how early in the year it’s happening,” Dr. Andrew Laudenbach said.

“It takes less than about 15 minutes in 50 degree temperature water for someone to lose their ability to grab things with their hands, to make those fine movements and not too much longer before their ability to swim effectively is impacted,” said Dr. Hannah Lichtsinn, a Primary Care Doctor with HCMC.

By Hannah Lichtsinn, MD

By Rachel Silva, MD

Interview with Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, an internist, pediatrician, and health services researcher at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, MN, an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, and a staff physician at the Hennepin County jail. He is the co-director of the Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute.

Symptoms of perinatal anxiety, which can affect women during pregnancy and after, are not always physical. The severity of anxiety is a spectrum, says Dr. Helen Kim, co-founder and director of the Hennepin Healthcare Mother-Baby Program and Redleaf Center for Family Healing.

“She’s a walking miracle,” said Dr. Tracy Prosen, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Hennepin Healthcare, which runs HCMC hospital in Minneapolis. “We weren’t sure if mom was going to make it. We weren’t sure if baby was going to make it.”

“The problem with them that we see from Poison Control, it’s not that they’re poisonous per say, they have no poison in them, the problem is they expand and can cause problems if you swallow a lot of them,” said Dr. Ann Arens, the associate medical director of the Minnesota Poison Control System.

Kristen Wiik, a pediatric neuropsychologist at HCMC, says her team was working at capacity with kids before the pandemic. Now there’s a long waitlist, and the hospital refers many kids to other practices. She wishes more schools had school-based mental health services and predicts the demand for mental health support has only just begun.

“I think we’re still in it. We’re still in the middle of the storm,” Wiik said. “One thing we’re anticipating is that the transition back to regular full-time school for a lot of kids is going to be really hard.”

“Traditionally we’ve thought that people in their 50s and 60s should start looking for [colon cancer],” said Dr. David Hilden, internal medicine physician with Hennepin Healthcare.

“The water was already high, and now the dam has broken,” said Kristen Wiik, manager for neuropsychology and the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic at Hennepin Healthcare.

“The people I’ve cared for who have been sick or have been diagnosed with COVID-19 after having vaccine have had very easy courses, minimal symptoms, if any,” said Dr. Hannah Lichtsinn, of Hennepin Healthcare.