Tony Ferrante, age 24, was born with complex congenital heart disease (CHD). His condition is called pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum and it’s a condition he has and will live with for the rest of his life. According to one of Tony’s adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) cardiologists, Dr. Ashish Saini, CHD is the […]
Deena Barber has a “heart” for nursing
Deena Barber, nurse program coordinator for the Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) program, has seen a lot of change in her 36 years as a nurse at Akron Children’s. But one thing that hasn’t changed in all that time is how she treats her patients. “My most important responsibility is to alleviate fear,” she said. […]
Fran Feesler named Magnet Nurse of the Year
Although she was recently named Akron Children’s Magnet Nurse of the Year for exemplifying excellence in professional practice, Fran Feesler, MSN, APRN, FNP, an advanced practice provider (APP) in the Heart Center, didn’t initially plan to become a nurse. “I have a degree in elementary education, but in the early ‘90s teaching jobs were scarce,” […]
Surgery to repair leaky valve mends 4-year-old’s “broken” heart
Addisyn Piekarski and her mom, Kristen, had just the right outfit in mind for Addisyn’s Jan. 13 follow-up appointment with her heart surgeon, Dr. Robert Stewart. Sporting a shirt covered in small hearts, with a large, sequin heart in the center, seemed fitting to meet with the man who just 8 days earlier had repaired […]
