THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507190158
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: THUMBS UP
SOURCE: BY JANELLE LA BOUVE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
SUSAN LeFEBVRE is an ambassador, of sorts.
An operating room nurse at the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk for 3 1/2 years and head of nursing for the team that specializes in cranial and facial surgery, she helps train doctors from Third World countries.
``We teach them how to do reconstruction surgeries which simply are not being done in their countries,'' said the 35-year-old Chesapeake resident. ``We make sure all the doctors get to where they need to be and see what they want to see.
``It takes a lot of ambassadorship. I take that very seriously.''
The team also makes sure that the children who travel from Third World countries to receive life-changing head and facial surgery understand what is happening to them.
This year, for example, one of the patients was a child from the Philippines who spoke no English and had very low self-esteem.
``We prepared the child by explaining everything so that the child would not be horrified,'' she said. ``We spent a lot of time before and after surgery with her.''
Her diplomacy skills don't stop with the patients.
In the spring, LeFebvre organized the hospital's participation in the national ``Take Our Daughters to Work Day.''
On the special day, 40 daughters of hospital staff members trooped into the operating room. Each donned a scrub suit.
The older girls spent the entire work day with their moms or dads and had an opportunity to watch a surgical team in action.
``We put them in places where the surgery wouldn't be too gory,'' LeFebvre said.
One operating room, left open for the day, was set up with displays of items such as surgical instruments. A telescope showed the inside of a green pepper.
``We let the children put tubes in a great big rubber ear,'' LeFebvre said.
The girls also learned what it's like to sew through skin.
``They put stitches in big sheets of rubber, which was as close to skin as we could find,'' she said.
An intravenous line was hooked up to a four-foot Mickey Mouse doll. In the recovery room, the girls helped Mickey wake up safely by putting an oxygen mask on his face. Just in case he was confused when he awoke, they raised the rails on the side of his bed.
``The girls hooked each other up to a heart monitor, then printed an electrocardiograph readout,'' she said.
They went to the sterile processing department and learned what is involved in preparing instruments used in surgery.
Each girl received a scrapbook in which to keep items, including a disposable instrument.
At the end of the day, each girl either drew a picture or gave a written description of why mom or dad's job is important.
``Everyone wrote the same thing. My mom (or dad) helps kids get well,'' LeFebvre said. ``The staff felt sky high.
``It was so much fun I just can't wait to do it again next year.''
In her spare time, LeFebvre enjoys crafts; she sews and paints on wood.
Recently, she tried her hand at writing.
She lacked confidence at first, but when Dr. Craig Derkay asked her to co-author an article, she found that she liked the challenge.
The article, ``How to Remove Foreign Bodies from the Airways of Children,'' was published in the July 1994 issue of AORN, a medical journal.
``It went over well,'' LeFebvre said. ``The journal called and asked us to write a second article on tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies. That should come out the first of the year.''
LeFebvre especially enjoys being the leader of Brownie Scout Troop 704.
``They are wonderful little girls,'' she said. ``You learn so much from working with them. They want to learn everything. They energize you.''
Her comments about nursing at King's Daughters further reflect her appreciation for children.
``I will always want to work with children,'' said LeFebvre, who has two daughters of her own. ``I have come to realize that they deserve every bit of respect and every bit of effort that I have.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER
Susan LeFebvre, an operating room nurse at Children's Hospital of
The King's Daughters, works with Operation Smile patients and has
co-written an article that was published in a medical journal.
by CNB