April 2008
Dear faculty, Children's Hospital staff and other friends,
I want to remind each and every one of you of the great contribution to children's care that Dr. Charles Darby has made. As Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Darby fought valiantly to develop funding to bring a new Children's Hospital into being in Charleston. I was very excited to be recruited by Dr. Darby, and was very impressed with the MUSC Children's Hospital. In 1991, the hospital was shiny and new even if my office and labs were 45 years old. Since the day I met with Dr. Darby, I have found him to be a dogged advocate for children as a whole, children who are sick, and for the pediatricians, nurses, residents, students, and administrators who have a passion to help make the world a better place for all ages.
As we celebrate more than 20 years at the Children's Hospital, there are many new improvements that are needed. It is incumbent upon us to work with the Medical University, the community, the state, and the nation as we develop better therapies and train future practitioners. We will need new and better places for taking care of children in the future. The University is helping us to make changes that will help us to serve today's children and develop the strategies and treatments that will keep them healthy. It is clear that upgrades will be costly, but they will also be important for the whole community and in many cases for the entire state.
The Darby Children's Research Institute is already the basis for starting treatments in bone health for children, diabetes prevention, reducing brain damage, increasing health by stimulating endogenous antibiotics and strategies to treat hematological disorders and malignancies. I wish to exhort each of you to be ready to play your part. We will need ideas, sleepless nights, money, vision, and caring people to bring the future to MUSC Children's Hospital. We will work with our president, our deans, our chairs, our faculty and staff to create the future that we can cherish.
Thanks to each of you who work with us, help us to struggle to build and improve. Thanks for the patients who realize that come to us for compassionate family-centered care. The future starts now. Let's all embrace it.
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Sincerely,
L. Lyndon Key, MD
Chair, Department of Pediatrics |
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