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Combining Expertise and Compassion
K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital and the region’s leading Trauma Center joined forces to help
one little girl bounce back from a seemingly minor injury that took a very serious turn.
Parents to 10 children, Chaim and
Chanie Pechter are no strangers
to bumps and bruises. So it wasn’t too
unusual when their daughter Elisheva,
age 4, fell in their home in Lakewood
last January.
As Chanie recalls, "I was upstairs and
heard Elisheva crying, but I just assumed
that the kids were fighting. When I told
her to come upstairs, she couldn’t really
get past the landing." When Chanie
looked her daughter over, there weren’t
any bruises or signs of redness, so she
assured her little girl that everything
would be okay. "But it got worse,
and the crying did not subside."
Routine Fall Leads to Severe Injury
"There was something unnerving
about the intensity of her cry," Chaim
goes on. "We weren’t sure it was
necessary, but we decided to take
her to the doctor. In the car, beads
of sweat started to form on her face
and she complained of being cold,
which started to really alarm us."
Events escalated quickly when
the doctor’s office summoned the
paramedics to transport Elisheva
straight to Jersey Shore University
Medical Center. As the severity of
her injury was uncovered, she was
moved from the emergency room
to the Trauma Center — the only
Level II Trauma Center in the region.
Lori Christensen, M.D., critical
care surgeon, evaluated Elisheva there.
"She had a high grade-four kidney
laceration," Dr. Christensen reports,
"which is extremely serious. These
cases can be life-threatening. When
a force is transmitted directly to the
organ, it fragments. In this case, the
tissue in the kidney was damaged.
If we could not control the bleeding,
the kidney would have to be removed."
Professional Excellence
During Elisheva’s 10-day stay at
K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital,
the Pechters were as much impressed
with the compassion of the staff as
they were with the skill of the team.
In Chaim’s words, "The nurses became
our advocates. They were very sensitive
to our needs and went out of their
way to help us as though they were
family. And Dr. Christensen was both
professional and compassionate. She
told us the way it was but also gave
us hope and confidence. There were
many people who touched us, including
Drs. Fleisher and Vates, the pediatric
urologists — they were just excellent."
The hospital stay was difficult on
the family, but with Elisheva’s team
carefully monitoring and medicating
her, she was able to heal successfully.
Only a couple of weeks out of the
hospital, Elisheva was back at play,
as fearless as ever. "She is an energetic and rambunctious little girl," her mother
says. "Thank God she’s here. We
learned we can’t take that for granted."
Red Flags for Parents
It can be difficult for parents to discern
when a child’s cry is more than just
a simple cry. Some key warning signs
for concern include: pain that seems
out of proportion to the injury; persistent
pain without relief; and nausea,
vomiting, fever, or chills. Additional
symptoms that suggest the need for
a physician evaluation are blood in
the urine or difficulty urinating.
In case of an emergency, parents can
take comfort knowing that K. Hovnanian
Children’s Hospital and Jersey Shore’s
Trauma Center are open 24/7. Experts
at these facilities work closely with
skilled emergency medical professionals
and pediatricians across central New
Jersey to ensure the highest-quality care
for the shore area’s youngest patients.
 – Ryan Younger
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