Primary Children's Hospital gets 10 out of 10 ranking by US News & World Report


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SALT LAKE CITY — For the first time ever, Primary Children's Hospital ranked among the nation's best hospitals in all ten pediatric specialties.

U.S. News & World Report released the rankings on Tuesday. Part of those rankings includes cardiology and heart surgery.

Thanks to Primay Children's Hospital, three-year-old Stasia Scharman is able to today play with her tea set and enjoy a healthy life with her family.

Doctors first detected Stasia's heart defect in utero. "The way he explained it, it sounded like we'd be lucky if she lived past the age of two," said Aubrey Scharman, Stasia's mother.

She had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a birth defect that affects blood flow through the heart. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year, 960 babies in the United States are born with the syndrome. Last year, 17 new patients were diagnosed with it at Primary Children's Hospital.

After two surgeries that went well, Stasia got sicker and sicker.

"She'd really struggled with having low blood-oxygen levels for some time, and was really slowing down," said Dr. Lindsay May, transplant cardiologist at Primary Children's Hospital. "Her parents noticed that over a six-month period, she was just more quiet, which was definitely not her usual self."

That's when her parents received the news: Stasia needed a heart transplant.

Doctors placed her on the transplant list last August. "It becomes very emotional," Aubrey Scharman said. "We knew there was a chance that she'd never get a heart."

On a Tuesday night in mid-October, a call came from the hospital. "She says, 'We have a heart,' and I froze," Aubrey Scharman said. "I didn't want to actually say it out loud; I was afraid of jinxing it."

It would be a very high-risk surgery and technically difficult.

Stasia's mom knows little about the donor, a boy who died in an accident, whose mother didn't think twice about donating his heart. "I could never thank her enough," Aubrey Scharman said.

The surgery was a success.

"She has a completely structurally normal heart," May said. "All four chambers are normal sized as they should be. It's absolutely miraculous. That's why we do this type of job: because it's such a huge miracle."

Aubrey Scharman said her daughter has luck on her side.

"She's our little lucky charm," she said. "Even with all the bad that she's had to deal with and all the bad luck, she managed to luck out and do so much more than we ever expected to see her do."

And now, Stasia's charming personality thrives. "I am always grateful for her personality, but there are times when I just sit there, 'Oh my gosh, you need to calm down just a notch or two," Aubrey Scharman said.

And soon, Stasia will have someone else to show her personality to. "Little sister!" Stasia Scharman said. A little sister due in September.

Though there are still risks of rejection and infection, doctors expect Stasia will live a relatively normal life, including going to school and playing with friends.

The U.S. News & World Repot rankings represent an upward trend for Primary Children's Hospital. Only 24 of the nation's 200 children's hospitals achieved 10 out of 10 rankings this year. Here's a breakdown of their rankings:

  • Cardiology and Heart Surgery (14th)
  • Neurology and Neurosurgery (22nd)
  • Orthopedics (23rd) — a joint partnership with Shriners Hospitals for Children - Salt Lake City
  • Cancer (25th)
  • Gastroenterology and GI Surgery (29th)
  • Urology (35th)
  • Neonatology (39th)
  • Diabetes & Endocrinology (45th)
  • Nephrology (47th)
  • Pulmonology (49th)

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