This document summarizes a typical day for children at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital. It describes the daily schedule which focuses on getting children out of their beds and engaged in therapeutic activities, play, meals and socialization throughout the day from early morning until bedtime. Therapies and adventures are emphasized over traditional hospital routines to aid recovery and development. Parents and staff are quoted praising the approach for significantly improving children's conditions and outcomes.

1. Other hospitals
measure success
by how many beds
are filled.
We measure success
by how many
of our beds are
empty.

2. On any given day,
you’ll find kids in therapy,
kids cooking, kids on
the slide with brothers
and sisters, eating with
parents. You might even
see a kid playing Challenger
Baseball in a wheelchair.
And then there are the kids
you won’t see. Because
they’re at the zoo or the
mall or, heck, if it’s winter,
maybe they’re skiing.
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3. Here,
we don’t see illnesses,
we see
kids.
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4. “ ithout the courage
W
to challenge that
‘stay in the room’
mentality, I don’t think
Amari would have
done nearly as well.”
K at h y J u d k i n s , R N , C P N P
Consider Amari.
Like all toddlers,
Amari loved to explore
and interact.
He came to us after an
extended stay in the
neonatal intensive care
unit. Born four months
premature, he suffered
from multiple complex
conditions including
chronic lung disease
and a severe narrowing
of his airway.
His condition was
extremely precarious, but
he didn’t seem to know it.
photo by brian spurgeon
It was a joy for all
of us to watch him grow
and get strong enough to
go home with his parents.
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5. From
surviving
to
thriving
at Ranken
The children we take care of are the sickest of the sick.
Our kids suffer from traumatic brain injuries, cerebral palsy,
burns, spinal cord injuries, premature birth and
developmental delays. Getting them out of bed and back
to life starts with belief and determination.
Jordan.
6 7
© Debbie Franke

6. the ranken jordan approach | care beyond the bedside
We get
Physical
amazing
results
Environment
Unified Portable
for kids.
Team Technologies From being in a coma, Albert is on his way to becoming an inspirational
speaker. Kyla celebrated her fifth birthday at home with her family,
a birthday she wasn’t expected to celebrate at all. Zach’s mom was told
he might never be able to roll over. Today he chases frogs.
Safety Passion and dedication are at the core of these outcomes.
Communications But they are not enough. It also takes a tremendous amount of
discipline, teamwork, technological ingenuity, and innovation.
It takes a space that is designed for the care of sick kids but
doesn’t feel like a hospital. Most kids receive care in the 80 square
feet around their hospital bed. Our kids have 35,000 square feet.
It takes portable technologies, such as the backpacks we’ve
modified to hold the technology that keep our kids alive.
We’ve optimized portable IV pumps, feeding pumps and
monitors so we can keep up with a child on the move.
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7. It takes safety protocols and instant communication tools that Finally, it takes caring for families along with kids. Because more
help our kids stay safe on even their most ambitious adventures. than anything, our kids need healthy families to thrive.
It also takes a team that includes physician pediatric specialists,
psychiatrists, nurses, respiratory therapists, pediatric nurse
practitioners, certified nursing assistants, recreational therapists,
child life specialists, speech-language therapists, social workers,
physical therapists, pediatric pharmacists, occupational therapists,
volunteers, dietitians, and care coordinators. All working together
to get our kids out and about.
10 11

8. day
“In 22 days, Otto went
A from not being
able to wiggle his
toes to walking.”
o t t o ’ s mom
in the life
at Ranken Jordan.
7:30 am 8:30 am 9 am
We know how important it is to get rise shine! BREAKFAST IN Therapy
waking up the dining room time
even the very sickest kids up and
You won’t see our kids Families and Or is it playtime?
out of their hospital beds and back in hospital gowns. They caregivers It feels like that
to the work of childhood: play. get dressed every day. come, too! (almost always).
GOOD
MORNING!
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9. “Ranken Jordan took
me from being solitary “It’s very “ argaret loved the
M
kitchen. She couldn’t
to getting out and forming
bonds and relationships. fun.” eat because she
had a trach, but she
The nurses are all otto
got to lick things.”
my besties.” m a r g a r e t ’ s mom
Cecilia
10 am 11 am 12 pm 1 pm
Hanging one-on-one eating Just
out time LUNCH chillin’
Exercises and Intense therapy. If a child needs therapy Playing on the playground
activities with small Music and movement. to help with swallowing, with sibs, video games,
groups of peers. Infant massage for babies. this may happen at lunch. movies, golf. Nap anyone?
During waking
hours, two
thirds of our
patients are not
in their beds.
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10. “I pictured her in “The results we’ve had “Ranken Jordan
bed laying there in a from four weeks are gave us a new
body cast. They said, remarkable. Kim is life, when we
‘absolutely not — now doing things she’s thought our life
they’re up every day been unable to do for was over.”
and they’re hardly ever the last two years.” j a ck s i n ’ s Da d
in their rooms.’” k i m ’ s mom
S a s h i k a’ s mom
2 pm 4 pm 5 pm 9 pm
More adventures, Homework, computer dinner Winding down,
expeditions lab, therapy, ready for bed
activities volunteer activities
Field trips usually This year the zoo Eating in the dining Bedtime stories.
happen on Fridays. has been doing room with friends, Hugs. Meds.
outreach with us. family and caregivers.
GOOD
Just as there night!
is no typical
patient,
there is no
typical day.
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11. the ranken jordan approach | dr. holekamp’s perspective
We see it time and time again.
Kids
get better
when they feel
better.
Being out and about says to a child, “I can play. I can
make cookies. I can go to the zoo or the mall. I can be a kid.”
Just as important, it says the same thing to families and
parents. The seeds for this way of caring for kids were planted
back in the 1940s when Mary Ranken Jordan founded
Ranken Jordan to care for children recovering from polio
and tuberculosis.
The kids who come to us today are harder to get out and
about, because many of them depend on the technologies
we invented to save them to keep them alive. So it’s more of
a challenge. We just have to work harder.
Dr. Nicholas Holekamp
I give tours every week to students. I tell them, “You’re not
is the Chief Medical Officer at Ranken Jordan. going to see a facility like this anywhere else.”
To the kids, he’s just Dr. Nick.
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12. 20
We know
for over
the lives of
our approach works,
70
years.
because we’ve seen it work in
our children
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Photography: Paul Bussmann LLC, Debbie Franke Photography 2010, TakeIt Design, LLC / Brian Spurgeon, and Ranken Jordan. Design: Paul Bussmann LLC

13. Ranken Jordan
is a pediatric specialty hospital
providing rehabilitation and
subacute medical treatment for
seriously ill and injured children
regardless of their
families’ ability to pay.
®
©2011 The Ranken-Jordan Home for Convalescent Crippled Children