Loyola Pediatric Intensive Care Physician Julie Fitzgerald, MD, Recognized by Gift of Hope
October 23, 2018Categories: Emergency Medicine & Trauma, Pediatrics
MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola Medicine's Julie Fitzgerald, MD, FAAP, division director, pediatric critical care; medical director, pediatric intensive care unit, was recognized as a Lifesaving Partner by Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network.
Dr. Fitzgerald was one of 14 people who were honored in a ceremony on October 12 for outstanding achievement in addressing the critical need for organ and tissue donation.
As a pediatric intensivist, Dr. Fitzgerald cares for some of the sickest pediatric patients at Loyola. She is an active member of Gift of Hope’s Critical Care Advisory Group, which works to improve relationships and communication between medical and organ donation teams.
In November 2017, Dr. Fitzgerald organized, facilitated and led Gift of Hope’s first Pediatric Brain Death Symposium. She is working on a follow-up symposium on pediatric donation after cardiac death.
Dr. Fitzgerald also helped create the Crucial Conversations and Pediatric Brain Death Educational training videos, which are now used at many hospitals throughout Gift of Hope’s donation service area. These educational videos help healthcare professionals practice and develop their skills around end-of-life and pediatric brain-death conversations with grieving families.
“Dr. Julie Fitzgerald is an extraordinary champion of organ and tissue donation,” Kevin Cmunt, president/CEO of Gift of Hope said in a Gift of Hope press release. “Her dedication to donation is second only to her commitment to excellence in her field. The many contributions Dr. Fitzgerald makes in her collaboration with Gift of Hope have helped to bolster education, awareness and support around donation among medical professionals.”
Loyola Medicine has a 14-bed pediatric critical care unit. Loyola specializes in the medical care of infants, children and teens who require advanced life support, close monitoring and ongoing treatment after an emergency, severe trauma or major surgery, including a transplant.
About Loyola Medicine
Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from nearly 2,000 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. LUMC is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the John L. Keeley, MD, Emergency Department, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, the Nancy W. Knowles Orthopaedic Institute, a certified comprehensive stroke center, transplant center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter).
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, faith-based health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 127,000 colleagues and more than 38,300 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 26 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 93 hospitals, 107 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 142 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2024, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.3 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).