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A Network of Healing Support YOUR HOME FOR SPIRITUAL SUPPORT A firm spiritual foundation is as important to care at The Children's Hospital of San Antonio as advanced technology and techniques. Chaplains with The Children's Hospital of San Antonio are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide spiritual guidance to families of all faiths. These spiritual advisors work together with the multidisciplinary care team to ensure that each family has access to a full spectrum of spiritual care services, including: • access to websites and apps related to healing and health • advance care planning and guidance completing related forms • meaningful prayer for the purposes of healing • palliative care consultation • end of life care • bereavement and grief support The chaplains also help families connect with faith communities and offer age-related spiritual care for siblings, parents and grandparents. To learn more about spiritual care at The Children's Hospital of San Antonio, visit chofsa.org/spiritual-care. When their daughter faced a medical emergency, Laura and Saleh Jaafar, M.D., trusted the team at The Children's Hospital of San Antonio to provide solutions. It was 1995 when Laura Jaafar made the critical decision to donate one of her kidneys to her father. Doctors expected the routine procedure to go smoothly, but complications caused Laura to need a blood transfusion. This life-saving move created a minute change in her antibodies that wouldn't become apparent until years later, when Laura and her husband welcomed a new member to the family. Laura's daughter, Sophie, was born on July 17, 2002, and the baby faced critical challenges from her very first day. Sophie experienced uncontrollable internal bleeding due to a rare hematologic condition caused by the change in Laura's blood. Shortly after her birth, Sophie was transferred to The Children's Hospital of San Antonio (then CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children's Hospital) for care. The health care team worked diligently to control Sophie's bleeding. It was more than 24 hours before doctors were able to get it under control. "She was still in a critical stage and had severe jaundice after the bleeding stopped, so she received medication and was on a ventilator for another several days," Laura says. "They were concerned about brain damage from the lack of blood." The team was able to get Sophie through those first few weeks, however, and now, fifteen years later, she is a happy, thriving teen with one of the highest grade point averages in her class. "The Children's Hospital of San Antonio saved her life, and she is doing perfectly today because of them," Laura says. "The people who work there love what they do, and it shows in the way that they care for babies like Sophie. We are so grateful for the care that she received." To learn more about the Children's Hospital of San Antonio, visit chofsa.org. 5 The Children's Hospital of San Antonio • chofsa.org