On this episode of What's Going On, we explore two very different but equally important stories about health, healing, and hope. First, Loraine Ballard Morrill speaks with Dr. Philip Pearson, colorectal surgeon, educator, and social media personality known as the "Singing Surgeon," about anal fistula, a painful and often misunderstood condition that affects thousands of people each year.
Dr. Pearson discusses the physical and emotional impact of living with anal fistula, why many patients suffer in silence, and how a new minimally invasive treatment called BioHealx is helping patients heal while reducing complications and preserving quality of life. He also shares how he uses music and social media to make difficult health conversations more approachable and reduce stigma around colorectal health. Learn More:
https://www.signumsurgical.com/
https://www.mainlinehealth.org/find-a-doctor/philip-y-pearson https://www.tiktok.com/@drphilippearson Follow:
Instagram: @signumsurgical
LinkedIn: Signum Surgical
We also spotlight the iHeartMedia Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation Podathon, taking place June 9, raising funds to support life-changing care for children with complex medical, developmental, behavioral, and physical challenges. Dr. Matt McDonald, President and CEO of Children's Specialized Hospital, joins us to discuss the hospital's impact on nearly 45,000 children each year, the growing need for specialized pediatric care, and how community support helps children achieve milestones once thought impossible. Event Details:
iHeartMedia Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation Podathon
June 9, 2026
Goal: Raise $50,000 for the Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation Donate and Learn More:
www.ilovecsh.org
Every donation helps provide specialized care, therapy, innovation, and hope for children and families facing extraordinary challenges.
Dr. Pearson discusses the physical and emotional impact of living with anal fistula, why many patients suffer in silence, and how a new minimally invasive treatment called BioHealx is helping patients heal while reducing complications and preserving quality of life. He also shares how he uses music and social media to make difficult health conversations more approachable and reduce stigma around colorectal health. Learn More:
https://www.signumsurgical.com/
https://www.mainlinehealth.org/find-a-doctor/philip-y-pearson https://www.tiktok.com/@drphilippearson Follow:
Instagram: @signumsurgical
LinkedIn: Signum Surgical
We also spotlight the iHeartMedia Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation Podathon, taking place June 9, raising funds to support life-changing care for children with complex medical, developmental, behavioral, and physical challenges. Dr. Matt McDonald, President and CEO of Children's Specialized Hospital, joins us to discuss the hospital's impact on nearly 45,000 children each year, the growing need for specialized pediatric care, and how community support helps children achieve milestones once thought impossible. Event Details:
iHeartMedia Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation Podathon
June 9, 2026
Goal: Raise $50,000 for the Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation Donate and Learn More:
www.ilovecsh.org
Every donation helps provide specialized care, therapy, innovation, and hope for children and families facing extraordinary challenges.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Welcome to what's going on a show about
making a difference in our lives and our communities. I'm
Lorraine Ballertmorrow. We're tackling a health topic that most people
would rather not talk about, but probably should. Doctor Philip Pearson,
the Singing Surgeon, joins us to discuss anal fistulas and
why they can be so painful and life disrupting, and
(00:21):
how a new treatment is helping patients heal with fewer complications.
Then we turn to some inspiring stories of hope with
doctor Matt MacDonald of Children's Specialized Hospital sharing how the
iHeartMedia Potathon is helping raise funds to support life changing
care for children and families across the region. Stay with
us today. We're talking about a painful and often misunderstood
(00:44):
medical condition that affects thousands of people every year, anal fistula,
and the emotional and physical toll it can take on
patients and families is tremendous. So joining us right now
is doctor Philip Pearson, a correctal surgeon an educator knows
online as the Singing Surgeon, to discuss how this condition
impacts quality of life and how many patients struggle in silence,
(01:08):
and how a new minimally invasive treatment called biohelix is
offering hope for healing with fewer complications and faster recovery.
We'll also talk about doctor Pearson's use of music and
social media to educate the public and make difficult health
conversations a lot more approachable. Well, doctor Pearson, thank you
so much for joining us to begin. What exactly is
(01:28):
an anal fistula and how does this condition develop?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So, an anal fistula is a little tunnel that begins
in an infected anal gland. There's about fifteen to twenty
glands that line the anus about an echin side. Nobody
really knows they're there until, of course, you get one
of these problems, but we all have them, there's no
problem with having them. And one of those little glands
can get spontaneously infected and that begins the infection. The
(01:55):
infection then pushes outside the anus, can cause it really
bad absence, and over time can develop into what is
called a fistula and officila, This basically means a tunnel
between one thing and another.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well, we understand this condition often affects younger adults, which
I think is kind of fascinating, especially men between eighteen
and fifty. What symptoms should people pay attention to and
when should they seek medical care?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So basically, anyone who has pain in or around the anus,
you should not blow it off. Pain or swelling when
one has an infection near the anus, that's called a
perirectal apses that is caused by the infected anal gland,
and basically it starts to swell up and it hurts
a lot, and you can feel a swollen thing. Most
people say, oh, I have a swollen thing near my butt.
(02:40):
That's probably a hemorrhoid. But the truth is hemorrhoids are
sometimes the problem, but there's a million other things that
can cause problems with your behind. But if you have
pain or swelling back there, you should just go to
a professional and biprofessional I actually mean a colorectal surgeon
who does this for a living. We're sprinkled throughout the
United States in the world, but corectal surgeons very helpful
(03:00):
in this regard. Even though nobody wants to come see us,
we're very very helpful for this region of the body.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, you know, even talking about the A word and
sometimes it's just even hard to say it out loud. Okay,
I just know I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I should just say it's just part of the body.
It's just a part of the body. I find myself
avoiding the A word as well. I'm going to say it.
It's my job.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, it is your job, and we're about to raise
awareness about why we should be speaking freely about this
because beyond the physical pain, a lot of patients describe
this condition as emotionally exhausting and isolating. I wonder if
you can talk about the mental and emotional impact that
anal fistulas can have on somebody's daily life and relationships.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well, that's a great point and a really good question,
because anyone with a problem near their bottom, near their anus,
first of all, they're incredibly embarrassed to even come in
for help in the first place. Once they cross that
hurdle and come to my office or a correctal surgeon's office.
Even when you find help in that area, you are
then probably or you could get surge in that area,
and the surgery sometimes requires to fix an anal fishila
(04:04):
might require multiple surgeries. Unfortunately, it's a kind of a
hard problem to fix in a very tricky area that
has really important muscles down there, and the muscles of
the anal canal are what comprises your continent. Your ability
to hold onto stool, which is a very important part
of being a social being, is that you are not
stooling while you are say working or socializing or being
(04:26):
intimate with a partner. You do not past stool. So
the sphincter muscle is very important, and that damn fishula
crosses over the sphincter muscles, and so it makes it
a tricky area to fix. The fact that it takes
multiple surgeries to fix usually turns it into a whole
kind of a misery. And that's I believe why you're
referencing that it can really impact your quality of life.
(04:47):
To have pain back there sucks in the first place.
To have surgery back there, even once or twice, absolutely
is not fun. And then to have pain and drainage
and the multiple surgeries back there can really really impact
your quality of life. It's a tough area to have
this problem.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Well, you talk about some of the traditional treatments and
how difficult and challenging they can be and perhaps not
always as effective as you want them to be. Now,
there's this new treatment called biohelix. Tell us about the
device and how it works differently from traditional surgical procedures.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So the biohelix is a brand new way to fix
anal ficialism. It's very, very exciting to those of us
in the field. If you don't know anything about anal fysula,
you're thinking, what the hell are we talking about. For
someone who deals with it every day, every week, every
month of my life, it's a very exciting possibility. I
describe it to my patients as a little bottle cap.
If a fistula is a tunnel going from the inside
of the anist the outside causing problems, this little biohelix guy,
(05:41):
I describe it as a bottle cap that goes over
the inner opening of the fistilla tract of the tunnel,
and it just closes it off. It's absorbable. It disappears
into your tissues over time, over a while, but it'll
close down that fistula and fix the problem with only
two operations. One operation is kind of the setup. You
need to do the first operation to kind of set
(06:01):
things up for success, and then you do the second operation.
You put the biohelix in and the success rates are
kind of astounding. It's in the eighty five percent range,
and there is almost nothing else that we have to
fix an anal fistula that is even close to eighty
five percent. And the ones that work the best are
the ones where you actually have to injure the muscles
of the anal canal, like you choose to do that.
(06:23):
I used to do that very traditional. I had to
choose to make injuries to the anal canal muscles in
order to get a good fix. This biohelix is a
bottle cap which has great results. Eighty five percent does
not at all impact the muscles of the anal canal.
So it really could be a great solution. It is
a great solution.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, I actually checked out. I think you have a
YouTube example that has an illustration and animation on how
it works. It's kind of fascinating. I'm a total nerd,
so of course I found it very how to.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Stay work and you're like, how does this thing work?
But then the cartoon is pretty good that it shows
the bottle cap going on and it closes down the
little tunnel. It's a cool little animation.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Well, it sounds like this is certainly a far cry
from traditional ways of treating these anal fistulas and provides
a lot better quality of life and outcome. And so
I'm so glad we're talking about this because this is
something that I'm sure not a lot of people even
are aware of, and even if they have this situation,
(07:23):
they may not even realize that there is a solution
to it. And so you are out there raising awareness
about these issues, and you're doing it in some very
interesting ways. You're not only a color recal surgeon, You've
become known online as the Singing surgeon. And I wonder
if you can talk a little bit about why you
decided to take this approach to communicating information about an
(07:47):
area that I'm sure a lot of people aren't either
not very well versed in or uncomfortable talking about.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Well, for me, it's I mean, I've been working in
this field for twenty one years and it's a long
history of knowing that everyone is pet to be in
my office. Petrified and mortified, mortified, petrified both together. There's
probably some word that's a nice mashup of those two words.
But people do not want to be there, and so
the desire to get out on TikTok. When TikTok became
I became aware of TikTok sort of during the pandemic.
(08:14):
And god knows, surgeons had a lot more free time
during the pandemic as nobody wanted to have any surgery
during the pandemic, So honestly, I had free time. I
tried to learn about TikTok. I figured that lots and
lots of young people were on TikTok, and honestly, my
friend Karen Tang, who is an influencer who is an obgin,
she was out on TikTok doing all this cool stuff
and I said, if you can do it, I'm going
(08:35):
to give it a try. And I tried to use
humor to get across real information about medical stuff that's
super embarrassing and that nobody wants to talk about. And
for me, humor is a huge lever. It's a huge tool.
It's also in my DNA. It's kind of how I'm
kind of cracked up, is I'm I don't take myself
that seriously, and that's a good thing in my job.
(08:56):
I like to take great care of people and yet
not take myself that seriously. And it worked well, so
I figured, could I use humor to make people crack
up and then tell them something real and true about
a part of the body that anus that nobody wants
to say the word and nobody knows anything about. And
that's how I started. And I did a few and
then kind of petered out. And then in the last
five years, I decided to leverage all of my talents
(09:19):
and bring them together. And I decided to sit down
at my piano and play little numbers or like half
a song to get people kind of roped in, like
what is this guy doing? And then I switch and
I start talking to the camera about different medical things
in the colorectal area and the interrectal area. And I
think I've gotten a couple million views on a few things.
I don't claim to be an influencer, but it's kind
(09:40):
of interesting and funny to think that people are out
there saying this is great. I've got Crohn's disease and
I have a fictula and I love Broadway music. So
this is my channel, this is my content. It's very
as my kids would say, it's very niche. But I
dabble in TikTok and Instagram to try and get it
across the kids.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Well, I would say you definitely qualify it as an
influencer in that area. And that's pretty wonderful because we know,
first of all, how difficult it is to have conversations
about that area of the body number one and number two.
As I mentioned before, it seems like young men are
more likely to have this condition, and we know how
(10:18):
men are. Okay, men do not want to go to
the doctor, and Lord knows they certainly don't want to
talk about that area of their bodies, right, that is correct.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Men. I would say men are more difficult to take
care of for sure, because they are more likely to
say I'm fine and not go see anyone. There are
plenty of guys in my office who say the reason
I'm here is my wife maybe come in because maybe
the wife is sick of seeing blood or discharge or
infection in the person's underweard literally that happens plenty, and
so yeah, our wives can sort of boss us around
and say, hey, take care of yourself, and we do
(10:49):
see that affair amount. I will say, we also see
anal ficialists in women and in Middle Asian and older folks.
But yep, young men are a large proportion of it
as well.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Well, Doctor Pearson, and people want to find out more
about your pre but also if they want to find
out more about the biohelix treatment, how do they find
out more So?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
The company that makes the biohelix device is called Signum Surgical,
and so there's a website they can go to Signum
that's sig and Um Surgical and that's the website that
has the cool animation. You could also just google the
biohelix b io h E A l X and those
two googles will get you all the way to the
website with the animation and learn a little bit about that.
(11:27):
And it's a really pretty good comprehensive website that talks
about fiscillas and how the biohelix works.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Well, we're very glad that you've chosen this as your
field of interest because clearly it's something that's very needed
because this is a painful and often misunderstood medical condition
that affects thousands of people every year, the anal fistula,
and it has a huge emotional and physical toll on
patients and families. Doctor Pearson, coorrectal surgeon and educator known
(11:53):
online as singing surgeon. We want to thank you so
much for spending the time with us and raising our
awareness about an area that people don't know much about.
But there are certainly some solutions and we're glad to
know that they are out there, and thanks for sharing
that with us.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Thank you so much for having us, having me and
having the Bible Hilics device be part of the broadcast.
We're happy that we have something cool to offer that
will help people with a very, very embarrassing and kind
of a miserable problem. So yeah, raising awareness is always
good and your program can certainly do that, so we
certainly appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
All right, thank you so much for joining us, Doctor Pearson,
have a great day.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Oh really, O pay.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Any one who has one, I'll tell you the same
name fesculous.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Should be fixed by colorectal surgeon.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
As part of the iHeartMedia Children Specialized Hospital Foundation Podathon
taking place on June ninth, highlighting the life changing work
happening every day at Children's Specialized Hospital, the nation's leading
provider of pediatric rehabilitation and specialized care for children facing
complex medical, developmental, behavioral, and physical challenges. Joining us is
(13:16):
doctor Matt McDonald, President and CEO of Children's Specialized Hospital.
Over the past decade, doctor McDonald has helped lead the
organization from the bedside as a clinician to the boardroom
as CEO, helping thousands of children and families across world
class care, hope, and opportunity. Today, Children's Specialized Hospital serves
(13:37):
nearly forty five thousand children each year through inpatient and
outpatient programs across New Jersey and beyond. Our goal is
to raise fifty thousand dollars for the Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation,
and every dollar makes a difference. Well, let's start with you,
doctor Matt McDonald. For someone who's never been to Children's
(13:58):
Specialized Hospital, how would you explain what this hospital actually
does for children and families?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Rating?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Thank you and thanks for having us again, And I
would explain it in a nutshell. Regardless of what site
or program, what we do is we help children.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Reach their potential.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
We meet children and families faced with special health care
needs and unique health care challenges every day, day in
and day out. We're interested in not where they are today,
but where we can get them to be tomorrow. That's
what we do at Children's specialized hospital.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You've spent a decade at CSH, first as a clinician,
then chief medical officer, are now president and CEO. What
transformations have you seen over the past ten years and
what are you most proud of.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Well, I've seen a lot of change in the last
ten years, and I've seen particularly a lot of growth
and us being able to continue to meet an unmet
need for our patients and family. What has changed the most,
I would say is the accessibility of our care and
the number of sites that we offer to patients and families.
(15:11):
Really transformational over the last decade. It's hard for me
to believe actually that it's been a decade and now
coming up on five years as the CEO, and what
I'm most proud of is actually what has not changed.
So we despite the growth in serving more patients year
over year and standing up new programs across the state
and nowadays across the country, what I'm most proud of
(15:34):
is that we have stayed very committed to our purpose
and to helping kids with special healthcare and aage reach
their potential. We have not varied from that. Actually, not
just in the last ten years, but in our one
hundred and thirty year history through epidemics and pandemics. That's
what I'm most proud of, and it's our ability to
(15:56):
ask what the patients need in a family sense, entered
way and be able to translate what their needs both
individually and at the population level, translate that into strategy
and access points across the state.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Very proud.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I can't believe actually that it's been a decade. But
you know how we know they say, Lorraine, time flies,
especially when you have a.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Fun exactly absolutely well. Today CSH is recognized as the
nation's leading provider of inpatient and outpatient pediatric rehabilitation and
specialized pediatric care, serving nearly forty five thousand children every year.
How has philanthropy and community support helped children specialize hospital
(16:44):
grow to this level of excellence.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Well, if you look at the first part of that description, Lorraine,
we do see ourselves as the nation's leading pediatric rehabilitation hospital,
and what that really refers to is our clinical outcomes
in the inpatient rehabilitation center. In other words, when children
come to see us, their improvement outpaces the improvement of
(17:10):
other places across the country.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
We're very proud of that.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Philanthropy has a heavy impact on our outcomes because it
allows us to deliver programs or people or technology that
help bridge the gap from good to great, particularly in patient.
We have very concrete example is if you ever walked
(17:34):
into the hallways of our inpatient rehab you would see
a wonderful place called Rocco's Room, which is a nursery
that would look like a nursery in our houses where
our patients and families and become educated around the needs
that they will have when they go home. That is
(17:55):
philanthropy impacting outcomes. Another age or impact of philanthropy is
in a number of patients we have served. You mentioned
in the last decade that we've served thousands upon thousands
of more children. Philanthropy is an accelerant to our ability
to do that. So if you look across the state
of New Jersey, new site in Mammouth, new sites in
(18:18):
East Brunswick and Union in Tom's River and more to come,
philanthropy is accelerating our ability to bring care closer to home.
Without the generosity of donors, we could deliver a good service,
but it would not be as great as what we're
(18:40):
able to give to our patients and families. Without philanthropy,
and it certainly would take a much longer period of
time in order to deliver care that kids need not
down the road, but they need now because we know
that intervening, particularly for children with developmental walk and special
(19:01):
health care needs earlier rather than later, leads to better outcomes.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
That's the pediatrician to me talking there.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Well, we talked about that forty five thousand children that
you do serve, and we understand that's only a fraction
of the kids who could benefit from this type of
specialized care. You talked about expanding access clearly a priority.
What does children specialize hospital need in order to reach
more children and families.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, we need to continue to be able to provide
care closer to home. We know that families will travel
when they need to travel on occasion or highly specialized
medical care, for example, but when it comes to being
able to deliver therapeutic care or care that's going to
occur frequently, we need to be able to get closer
(19:51):
to home. So part of our next strategic cycle is
doing just that, is trying to think about where in
the state of New Jersey or where in the country
are their significant care gaps or access deserts and then
be able to bring our services closer to home for
our patients and families.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Last year at the potathon, I had the opportunity to
meet a lot of the children and young adults who
were benefits benefited from Children's Specialized Hospital, who really had
miraculous outcomes. I met a young lady who had a stroke.
They thought she would never walk again, that she would
(20:34):
never be fully functional. But not only was she fully functional,
but she was you'd never know that she'd had a stroke.
I know that you've seen so many success stories, but
when you see a child achieve a milestone that was
once deemed impossible, what does that mean to you personally?
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I guess it means that shose the right path in life.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Those kids, those beautiful children, who I know all of
them by name and by face, they personally give me
a great motivation.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
The young lady who had the.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Stroke that you mentioned and now is back to school
and you never know it. That gives me a personal motivation.
But as the CEO of the organization, it lifts me
up and motivates not just me, but my whole senior
leadership team and the seventeen hundred people that work at
Children Specialists. When we see our patients and families succeed,
(21:37):
it really likes a fire under us and motivates us
to want to bring that success to the next child.
And mentioned access several times. So the way I think
about that very concretely is, had we not reached those
people will have the opportunity to meet doing the poduthon,
would their trajectory been improved and would they have the
(22:00):
same outcomes. The answer to that is no, and that's
why we're unrelenting in our pursuit of making sure that
kids have access. Two hundred and fifty thousand children in
New Jersey, give or take, have a special health care need.
Some are served by wonderful other folks in the state
who do similar work to us, but many of them
(22:22):
are underserved. And that's what the next three years is about.
It's about providing access to the services that we offer
while expanding access to such services like behavioral health and
autism services and so on.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
In your response to they'll ask question, I saw that
surge of emotion. It's clear that you are very moved
by what you do and that this truly is your
mission and life that you're able to fulfill to be
able to help these kids and to see these amazing,
sometimes miraculous outcomes.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Yeah, it's quite a blessing for me certainly.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I mean I chose to enter the field of pediatrics because.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Children spoke to my heart and.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
That's what I'm here for, and that's what all the
folks at Children Specialized Hospital and our foundation are here for.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
I think, in healthcare in particular.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
And exponentially so I Children Specialize. We are motivated by
what service and outcomes we can provide to children that
oftentimes need a heck of a lot of extra help.
And if that's not motivating, Lorraine, I don't know what is.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, And I have to also give a shout out
to the innovations that Children Specialized Hospital is constantly creating,
creating very personalized devices for children who need them. I mean,
it's really fascinating to see the creativity and the innovation
(24:08):
that's come out of the hospital.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
That's a pride point for us for sure. Our folks
that work at the hospital, the clinicians, our family faculty,
they understand the unique needs and challenges of our patients
a totally different level than most people do. And at
Children Specialize we have an innovation center that allows us
(24:32):
the opportunity to provide different products and services that our
patients may need in order to reach their full potential.
So wonderful partnership with Billy Footwear being a good example
of that innovation. We have a full department called Rehab Technology.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
So if you think of a child who.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Has cerebral palsy, for example, that child may need a
significant amount of physical equipment in order to go about
living or her best day. So we have a department
that is expert in figuring out what pieces of technology
that child may need. And then on the strategy side, Lorraine,
(25:17):
we also have some great innovations. So around the topic
of access, you may know and people may feel this
the good people of the Delaware Valley may feel this's
my hometown, Philadelphia, shout out to.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
The Philly. You may know if.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
You try to get an appointment with a pediatric subspecialist
that there is a shortage of pediatric subspecialists across the country.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
So Children is.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Doing some interesting things around innovation, around training programs and
creating in some ways first of the first of their
kind in the country, training programs that train physicians and
nurse practitioners so that they can have the ability to
take care of children with developmental delay and such diagnoses
(26:07):
as muscular skeletal disease, ensurreable palsy, and all of that
is aimed towards enhancing access. But it's quite innovative at CSH.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Well, certainly in speaking to you and so many individuals
that I've met who are part of children Specialized Hospital
and the Foundation, you really see the passion that they
bring to the job. So tell us what you love
most about Children's Specialized Hospital and the people that make
it so special.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
I love the most.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
The excitement that our seventeen hundred plus folks feel when
our patients and families hit a milestone or get a win.
It's hard to describe, but it's palpable when I get
to see it every day within the walls of CSA,
and I think that's my favorite. As a bedside clinician,
(27:05):
I got excited when I could do one thing for
one patient.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
And make an impact.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
But my favorite part about CSH is when our team
of people, foundation, clinicians, frontline, behind the scenes, get excited
about really making an impact on kids that need, frankly,
some extra help in.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Your own words, Why does every dollar donate it matter
so much to these kids and families.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Every dollar raised through the podothon one goes straight to
the kids and straight to the hospital. So any contribution
that generous folks are willing to make, you know that
the dollar is going to be in good custody and
go directly to programs and places that will help kids
(27:58):
reach their full potential. Those donations really accelerate our ability
to make an impact right now, this year, not things
that are a perboletic or in the future.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Thank you so much for taking the time. I know
you have a very busy schedule. Doctor Matt McDonald, President
and CEO of children Specialized Hospital, thank you so much
for joining us. Thank you for the incredible work being
done every day at Children's Specialized Hospital. You all can
help make a difference in the life of a child
and a family and need. Every donation supports specialized care, therapy,
(28:36):
innovation and hope for children facing extraordinary challenges. And you
don't have to wait until June ninth for our padathon.
You can give now at www dot I love CHS
dot org. Together we can help even more children achieve
Milestone's Once thought impossible. Thank you doctor McDonald for joining us.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Thank you, Loray, an honor and a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
You can listen to all of today's use on the
iHeartRadio app and all podcast platforms by typing in keywords
Philadelphia Community Podcast. Follow me on Instagram and threads at
Lorraine Ballard and Lorraine Morel on TikTok and that's Lorraine
with one R. I'm Lorraine Ballad of Morold and I
stand for service to our community and media that empowers.
What will you stand for? You've been listening to what's
(29:19):
going on, and thank you
Good morning, Welcome to what's going on a show about
making a difference in our lives and our communities. I'm
Lorraine Ballertmorrow. We're tackling a health topic that most people
would rather not talk about, but probably should. Doctor Philip Pearson,
the Singing Surgeon, joins us to discuss anal fistulas and
why they can be so painful and life disrupting, and
(00:21):
how a new treatment is helping patients heal with fewer complications.
Then we turn to some inspiring stories of hope with
doctor Matt MacDonald of Children's Specialized Hospital sharing how the
iHeartMedia Potathon is helping raise funds to support life changing
care for children and families across the region. Stay with
us today. We're talking about a painful and often misunderstood
(00:44):
medical condition that affects thousands of people every year, anal fistula,
and the emotional and physical toll it can take on
patients and families is tremendous. So joining us right now
is doctor Philip Pearson, a correctal surgeon an educator knows
online as the Singing Surgeon, to discuss how this condition
impacts quality of life and how many patients struggle in silence,
(01:08):
and how a new minimally invasive treatment called biohelix is
offering hope for healing with fewer complications and faster recovery.
We'll also talk about doctor Pearson's use of music and
social media to educate the public and make difficult health
conversations a lot more approachable. Well, doctor Pearson, thank you
so much for joining us to begin. What exactly is
(01:28):
an anal fistula and how does this condition develop?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So, an anal fistula is a little tunnel that begins
in an infected anal gland. There's about fifteen to twenty
glands that line the anus about an echin side. Nobody
really knows they're there until, of course, you get one
of these problems, but we all have them, there's no
problem with having them. And one of those little glands
can get spontaneously infected and that begins the infection. The
(01:55):
infection then pushes outside the anus, can cause it really
bad absence, and over time can develop into what is
called a fistula and officila, This basically means a tunnel
between one thing and another.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well, we understand this condition often affects younger adults, which
I think is kind of fascinating, especially men between eighteen
and fifty. What symptoms should people pay attention to and
when should they seek medical care?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So basically, anyone who has pain in or around the anus,
you should not blow it off. Pain or swelling when
one has an infection near the anus, that's called a
perirectal apses that is caused by the infected anal gland,
and basically it starts to swell up and it hurts
a lot, and you can feel a swollen thing. Most
people say, oh, I have a swollen thing near my butt.
(02:40):
That's probably a hemorrhoid. But the truth is hemorrhoids are
sometimes the problem, but there's a million other things that
can cause problems with your behind. But if you have
pain or swelling back there, you should just go to
a professional and biprofessional I actually mean a colorectal surgeon
who does this for a living. We're sprinkled throughout the
United States in the world, but corectal surgeons very helpful
(03:00):
in this regard. Even though nobody wants to come see us,
we're very very helpful for this region of the body.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Well, you know, even talking about the A word and
sometimes it's just even hard to say it out loud. Okay,
I just know I'm embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I should just say it's just part of the body.
It's just a part of the body. I find myself
avoiding the A word as well. I'm going to say it.
It's my job.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well, it is your job, and we're about to raise
awareness about why we should be speaking freely about this
because beyond the physical pain, a lot of patients describe
this condition as emotionally exhausting and isolating. I wonder if
you can talk about the mental and emotional impact that
anal fistulas can have on somebody's daily life and relationships.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well, that's a great point and a really good question,
because anyone with a problem near their bottom, near their anus,
first of all, they're incredibly embarrassed to even come in
for help in the first place. Once they cross that
hurdle and come to my office or a correctal surgeon's office.
Even when you find help in that area, you are
then probably or you could get surge in that area,
and the surgery sometimes requires to fix an anal fishila
(04:04):
might require multiple surgeries. Unfortunately, it's a kind of a
hard problem to fix in a very tricky area that
has really important muscles down there, and the muscles of
the anal canal are what comprises your continent. Your ability
to hold onto stool, which is a very important part
of being a social being, is that you are not
stooling while you are say working or socializing or being
(04:26):
intimate with a partner. You do not past stool. So
the sphincter muscle is very important, and that damn fishula
crosses over the sphincter muscles, and so it makes it
a tricky area to fix. The fact that it takes
multiple surgeries to fix usually turns it into a whole
kind of a misery. And that's I believe why you're
referencing that it can really impact your quality of life.
(04:47):
To have pain back there sucks in the first place.
To have surgery back there, even once or twice, absolutely
is not fun. And then to have pain and drainage
and the multiple surgeries back there can really really impact
your quality of life. It's a tough area to have
this problem.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Well, you talk about some of the traditional treatments and
how difficult and challenging they can be and perhaps not
always as effective as you want them to be. Now,
there's this new treatment called biohelix. Tell us about the
device and how it works differently from traditional surgical procedures.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So the biohelix is a brand new way to fix
anal ficialism. It's very, very exciting to those of us
in the field. If you don't know anything about anal fysula,
you're thinking, what the hell are we talking about. For
someone who deals with it every day, every week, every
month of my life, it's a very exciting possibility. I
describe it to my patients as a little bottle cap.
If a fistula is a tunnel going from the inside
of the anist the outside causing problems, this little biohelix guy,
(05:41):
I describe it as a bottle cap that goes over
the inner opening of the fistilla tract of the tunnel,
and it just closes it off. It's absorbable. It disappears
into your tissues over time, over a while, but it'll
close down that fistula and fix the problem with only
two operations. One operation is kind of the setup. You
need to do the first operation to kind of set
(06:01):
things up for success, and then you do the second operation.
You put the biohelix in and the success rates are
kind of astounding. It's in the eighty five percent range,
and there is almost nothing else that we have to
fix an anal fistula that is even close to eighty
five percent. And the ones that work the best are
the ones where you actually have to injure the muscles
of the anal canal, like you choose to do that.
(06:23):
I used to do that very traditional. I had to
choose to make injuries to the anal canal muscles in
order to get a good fix. This biohelix is a
bottle cap which has great results. Eighty five percent does
not at all impact the muscles of the anal canal.
So it really could be a great solution. It is
a great solution.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, I actually checked out. I think you have a
YouTube example that has an illustration and animation on how
it works. It's kind of fascinating. I'm a total nerd,
so of course I found it very how to.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Stay work and you're like, how does this thing work?
But then the cartoon is pretty good that it shows
the bottle cap going on and it closes down the
little tunnel. It's a cool little animation.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Well, it sounds like this is certainly a far cry
from traditional ways of treating these anal fistulas and provides
a lot better quality of life and outcome. And so
I'm so glad we're talking about this because this is
something that I'm sure not a lot of people even
are aware of, and even if they have this situation,
(07:23):
they may not even realize that there is a solution
to it. And so you are out there raising awareness
about these issues, and you're doing it in some very
interesting ways. You're not only a color recal surgeon, You've
become known online as the Singing surgeon. And I wonder
if you can talk a little bit about why you
decided to take this approach to communicating information about an
(07:47):
area that I'm sure a lot of people aren't either
not very well versed in or uncomfortable talking about.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Well, for me, it's I mean, I've been working in
this field for twenty one years and it's a long
history of knowing that everyone is pet to be in
my office. Petrified and mortified, mortified, petrified both together. There's
probably some word that's a nice mashup of those two words.
But people do not want to be there, and so
the desire to get out on TikTok. When TikTok became
I became aware of TikTok sort of during the pandemic.
(08:14):
And god knows, surgeons had a lot more free time
during the pandemic as nobody wanted to have any surgery
during the pandemic, So honestly, I had free time. I
tried to learn about TikTok. I figured that lots and
lots of young people were on TikTok, and honestly, my
friend Karen Tang, who is an influencer who is an obgin,
she was out on TikTok doing all this cool stuff
and I said, if you can do it, I'm going
(08:35):
to give it a try. And I tried to use
humor to get across real information about medical stuff that's
super embarrassing and that nobody wants to talk about. And
for me, humor is a huge lever. It's a huge tool.
It's also in my DNA. It's kind of how I'm
kind of cracked up, is I'm I don't take myself
that seriously, and that's a good thing in my job.
(08:56):
I like to take great care of people and yet
not take myself that seriously. And it worked well, so
I figured, could I use humor to make people crack
up and then tell them something real and true about
a part of the body that anus that nobody wants
to say the word and nobody knows anything about. And
that's how I started. And I did a few and
then kind of petered out. And then in the last
five years, I decided to leverage all of my talents
(09:19):
and bring them together. And I decided to sit down
at my piano and play little numbers or like half
a song to get people kind of roped in, like
what is this guy doing? And then I switch and
I start talking to the camera about different medical things
in the colorectal area and the interrectal area. And I
think I've gotten a couple million views on a few things.
I don't claim to be an influencer, but it's kind
(09:40):
of interesting and funny to think that people are out
there saying this is great. I've got Crohn's disease and
I have a fictula and I love Broadway music. So
this is my channel, this is my content. It's very
as my kids would say, it's very niche. But I
dabble in TikTok and Instagram to try and get it
across the kids.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Well, I would say you definitely qualify it as an
influencer in that area. And that's pretty wonderful because we know,
first of all, how difficult it is to have conversations
about that area of the body number one and number two.
As I mentioned before, it seems like young men are
more likely to have this condition, and we know how
(10:18):
men are. Okay, men do not want to go to
the doctor, and Lord knows they certainly don't want to
talk about that area of their bodies, right, that is correct.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Men. I would say men are more difficult to take
care of for sure, because they are more likely to
say I'm fine and not go see anyone. There are
plenty of guys in my office who say the reason
I'm here is my wife maybe come in because maybe
the wife is sick of seeing blood or discharge or
infection in the person's underweard literally that happens plenty, and
so yeah, our wives can sort of boss us around
and say, hey, take care of yourself, and we do
(10:49):
see that affair amount. I will say, we also see
anal ficialists in women and in Middle Asian and older folks.
But yep, young men are a large proportion of it
as well.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Well, Doctor Pearson, and people want to find out more
about your pre but also if they want to find
out more about the biohelix treatment, how do they find
out more So?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
The company that makes the biohelix device is called Signum Surgical,
and so there's a website they can go to Signum
that's sig and Um Surgical and that's the website that
has the cool animation. You could also just google the
biohelix b io h E A l X and those
two googles will get you all the way to the
website with the animation and learn a little bit about that.
(11:27):
And it's a really pretty good comprehensive website that talks
about fiscillas and how the biohelix works.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Well, we're very glad that you've chosen this as your
field of interest because clearly it's something that's very needed
because this is a painful and often misunderstood medical condition
that affects thousands of people every year, the anal fistula,
and it has a huge emotional and physical toll on
patients and families. Doctor Pearson, coorrectal surgeon and educator known
(11:53):
online as singing surgeon. We want to thank you so
much for spending the time with us and raising our
awareness about an area that people don't know much about.
But there are certainly some solutions and we're glad to
know that they are out there, and thanks for sharing
that with us.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Thank you so much for having us, having me and
having the Bible Hilics device be part of the broadcast.
We're happy that we have something cool to offer that
will help people with a very, very embarrassing and kind
of a miserable problem. So yeah, raising awareness is always
good and your program can certainly do that, so we
certainly appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
All right, thank you so much for joining us, Doctor Pearson,
have a great day.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Oh really, O pay.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Any one who has one, I'll tell you the same
name fesculous.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Should be fixed by colorectal surgeon.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
As part of the iHeartMedia Children Specialized Hospital Foundation Podathon
taking place on June ninth, highlighting the life changing work
happening every day at Children's Specialized Hospital, the nation's leading
provider of pediatric rehabilitation and specialized care for children facing
complex medical, developmental, behavioral, and physical challenges. Joining us is
(13:16):
doctor Matt McDonald, President and CEO of Children's Specialized Hospital.
Over the past decade, doctor McDonald has helped lead the
organization from the bedside as a clinician to the boardroom
as CEO, helping thousands of children and families across world
class care, hope, and opportunity. Today, Children's Specialized Hospital serves
(13:37):
nearly forty five thousand children each year through inpatient and
outpatient programs across New Jersey and beyond. Our goal is
to raise fifty thousand dollars for the Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation,
and every dollar makes a difference. Well, let's start with you,
doctor Matt McDonald. For someone who's never been to Children's
(13:58):
Specialized Hospital, how would you explain what this hospital actually
does for children and families?
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Rating?
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Thank you and thanks for having us again, And I
would explain it in a nutshell. Regardless of what site
or program, what we do is we help children.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Reach their potential.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
We meet children and families faced with special health care
needs and unique health care challenges every day, day in
and day out. We're interested in not where they are today,
but where we can get them to be tomorrow. That's
what we do at Children's specialized hospital.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
You've spent a decade at CSH, first as a clinician,
then chief medical officer, are now president and CEO. What
transformations have you seen over the past ten years and
what are you most proud of.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Well, I've seen a lot of change in the last
ten years, and I've seen particularly a lot of growth
and us being able to continue to meet an unmet
need for our patients and family. What has changed the most,
I would say is the accessibility of our care and
the number of sites that we offer to patients and families.
(15:11):
Really transformational over the last decade. It's hard for me
to believe actually that it's been a decade and now
coming up on five years as the CEO, and what
I'm most proud of is actually what has not changed.
So we despite the growth in serving more patients year
over year and standing up new programs across the state
and nowadays across the country, what I'm most proud of
(15:34):
is that we have stayed very committed to our purpose
and to helping kids with special healthcare and aage reach
their potential. We have not varied from that. Actually, not
just in the last ten years, but in our one
hundred and thirty year history through epidemics and pandemics. That's
what I'm most proud of, and it's our ability to
(15:56):
ask what the patients need in a family sense, entered
way and be able to translate what their needs both
individually and at the population level, translate that into strategy
and access points across the state.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Very proud.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I can't believe actually that it's been a decade. But
you know how we know they say, Lorraine, time flies,
especially when you have a.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Fun exactly absolutely well. Today CSH is recognized as the
nation's leading provider of inpatient and outpatient pediatric rehabilitation and
specialized pediatric care, serving nearly forty five thousand children every year.
How has philanthropy and community support helped children specialize hospital
(16:44):
grow to this level of excellence.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Well, if you look at the first part of that description, Lorraine,
we do see ourselves as the nation's leading pediatric rehabilitation hospital,
and what that really refers to is our clinical outcomes
in the inpatient rehabilitation center. In other words, when children
come to see us, their improvement outpaces the improvement of
(17:10):
other places across the country.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
We're very proud of that.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Philanthropy has a heavy impact on our outcomes because it
allows us to deliver programs or people or technology that
help bridge the gap from good to great, particularly in patient.
We have very concrete example is if you ever walked
(17:34):
into the hallways of our inpatient rehab you would see
a wonderful place called Rocco's Room, which is a nursery
that would look like a nursery in our houses where
our patients and families and become educated around the needs
that they will have when they go home. That is
(17:55):
philanthropy impacting outcomes. Another age or impact of philanthropy is
in a number of patients we have served. You mentioned
in the last decade that we've served thousands upon thousands
of more children. Philanthropy is an accelerant to our ability
to do that. So if you look across the state
of New Jersey, new site in Mammouth, new sites in
(18:18):
East Brunswick and Union in Tom's River and more to come,
philanthropy is accelerating our ability to bring care closer to home.
Without the generosity of donors, we could deliver a good service,
but it would not be as great as what we're
(18:40):
able to give to our patients and families. Without philanthropy,
and it certainly would take a much longer period of
time in order to deliver care that kids need not
down the road, but they need now because we know
that intervening, particularly for children with developmental walk and special
(19:01):
health care needs earlier rather than later, leads to better outcomes.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
That's the pediatrician to me talking there.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Well, we talked about that forty five thousand children that
you do serve, and we understand that's only a fraction
of the kids who could benefit from this type of
specialized care. You talked about expanding access clearly a priority.
What does children specialize hospital need in order to reach
more children and families.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, we need to continue to be able to provide
care closer to home. We know that families will travel
when they need to travel on occasion or highly specialized
medical care, for example, but when it comes to being
able to deliver therapeutic care or care that's going to
occur frequently, we need to be able to get closer
(19:51):
to home. So part of our next strategic cycle is
doing just that, is trying to think about where in
the state of New Jersey or where in the country
are their significant care gaps or access deserts and then
be able to bring our services closer to home for
our patients and families.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Last year at the potathon, I had the opportunity to
meet a lot of the children and young adults who
were benefits benefited from Children's Specialized Hospital, who really had
miraculous outcomes. I met a young lady who had a stroke.
They thought she would never walk again, that she would
(20:34):
never be fully functional. But not only was she fully functional,
but she was you'd never know that she'd had a stroke.
I know that you've seen so many success stories, but
when you see a child achieve a milestone that was
once deemed impossible, what does that mean to you personally?
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I guess it means that shose the right path in life.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Those kids, those beautiful children, who I know all of
them by name and by face, they personally give me
a great motivation.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
The young lady who had the.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Stroke that you mentioned and now is back to school
and you never know it. That gives me a personal motivation.
But as the CEO of the organization, it lifts me
up and motivates not just me, but my whole senior
leadership team and the seventeen hundred people that work at
Children Specialists. When we see our patients and families succeed,
(21:37):
it really likes a fire under us and motivates us
to want to bring that success to the next child.
And mentioned access several times. So the way I think
about that very concretely is, had we not reached those
people will have the opportunity to meet doing the poduthon,
would their trajectory been improved and would they have the
(22:00):
same outcomes. The answer to that is no, and that's
why we're unrelenting in our pursuit of making sure that
kids have access. Two hundred and fifty thousand children in
New Jersey, give or take, have a special health care need.
Some are served by wonderful other folks in the state
who do similar work to us, but many of them
(22:22):
are underserved. And that's what the next three years is about.
It's about providing access to the services that we offer
while expanding access to such services like behavioral health and
autism services and so on.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
In your response to they'll ask question, I saw that
surge of emotion. It's clear that you are very moved
by what you do and that this truly is your
mission and life that you're able to fulfill to be
able to help these kids and to see these amazing,
sometimes miraculous outcomes.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
Yeah, it's quite a blessing for me certainly.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
I mean I chose to enter the field of pediatrics because.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Children spoke to my heart and.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
That's what I'm here for, and that's what all the
folks at Children Specialized Hospital and our foundation are here for.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
I think, in healthcare in particular.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
And exponentially so I Children Specialize. We are motivated by
what service and outcomes we can provide to children that
oftentimes need a heck of a lot of extra help.
And if that's not motivating, Lorraine, I don't know what is.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, And I have to also give a shout out
to the innovations that Children Specialized Hospital is constantly creating,
creating very personalized devices for children who need them. I mean,
it's really fascinating to see the creativity and the innovation
(24:08):
that's come out of the hospital.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
That's a pride point for us for sure. Our folks
that work at the hospital, the clinicians, our family faculty,
they understand the unique needs and challenges of our patients
a totally different level than most people do. And at
Children Specialize we have an innovation center that allows us
(24:32):
the opportunity to provide different products and services that our
patients may need in order to reach their full potential.
So wonderful partnership with Billy Footwear being a good example
of that innovation. We have a full department called Rehab Technology.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
So if you think of a child who.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Has cerebral palsy, for example, that child may need a
significant amount of physical equipment in order to go about
living or her best day. So we have a department
that is expert in figuring out what pieces of technology
that child may need. And then on the strategy side, Lorraine,
(25:17):
we also have some great innovations. So around the topic
of access, you may know and people may feel this
the good people of the Delaware Valley may feel this's
my hometown, Philadelphia, shout out to.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
The Philly. You may know if.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
You try to get an appointment with a pediatric subspecialist
that there is a shortage of pediatric subspecialists across the country.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
So Children is.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Doing some interesting things around innovation, around training programs and
creating in some ways first of the first of their
kind in the country, training programs that train physicians and
nurse practitioners so that they can have the ability to
take care of children with developmental delay and such diagnoses
(26:07):
as muscular skeletal disease, ensurreable palsy, and all of that
is aimed towards enhancing access. But it's quite innovative at CSH.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Well, certainly in speaking to you and so many individuals
that I've met who are part of children Specialized Hospital
and the Foundation, you really see the passion that they
bring to the job. So tell us what you love
most about Children's Specialized Hospital and the people that make
it so special.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
I love the most.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
The excitement that our seventeen hundred plus folks feel when
our patients and families hit a milestone or get a win.
It's hard to describe, but it's palpable when I get
to see it every day within the walls of CSA,
and I think that's my favorite. As a bedside clinician,
(27:05):
I got excited when I could do one thing for
one patient.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
And make an impact.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
But my favorite part about CSH is when our team
of people, foundation, clinicians, frontline, behind the scenes, get excited
about really making an impact on kids that need, frankly,
some extra help in.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Your own words, Why does every dollar donate it matter
so much to these kids and families.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Every dollar raised through the podothon one goes straight to
the kids and straight to the hospital. So any contribution
that generous folks are willing to make, you know that
the dollar is going to be in good custody and
go directly to programs and places that will help kids
(27:58):
reach their full potential. Those donations really accelerate our ability
to make an impact right now, this year, not things
that are a perboletic or in the future.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Thank you so much for taking the time. I know
you have a very busy schedule. Doctor Matt McDonald, President
and CEO of children Specialized Hospital, thank you so much
for joining us. Thank you for the incredible work being
done every day at Children's Specialized Hospital. You all can
help make a difference in the life of a child
and a family and need. Every donation supports specialized care, therapy,
(28:36):
innovation and hope for children facing extraordinary challenges. And you
don't have to wait until June ninth for our padathon.
You can give now at www dot I love CHS
dot org. Together we can help even more children achieve
Milestone's Once thought impossible. Thank you doctor McDonald for joining us.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Thank you, Loray, an honor and a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
You can listen to all of today's use on the
iHeartRadio app and all podcast platforms by typing in keywords
Philadelphia Community Podcast. Follow me on Instagram and threads at
Lorraine Ballard and Lorraine Morel on TikTok and that's Lorraine
with one R. I'm Lorraine Ballad of Morold and I
stand for service to our community and media that empowers.
What will you stand for? You've been listening to what's
(29:19):
going on, and thank you
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