It takes a team to care for a child.

Your gift to Duke Children’s makes you a vital part of our team, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Your generosity has supported our critical missions of improving clinical care for our patients, performing pediatric research that can help children all over the world, and educating the pediatric providers of tomorrow.

Every dollar donated to Duke Children’s makes a difference in the life of a child. This philanthropy report shows how much your donation matters. We cannot thank you enough for helping build a healthy future for all children.

An Impact Story: CMN Hospital Funds Save Hearts in the Community

In 2018, several providers at the Duke Children's Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center were awarded a Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Kids Care Grant to start a North Carolina affiliate of the national Project ADAM program. Project ADAM advocates for the placement of and provides training in automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) and cardiac emergency preparedness in schools and youth centers. 

Every year in America, thousands of young people under the age of 18 experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and rough one-third of them will survive, but programs like Project ADAM save lives. Since its inception, Project ADAM North Carolina has trained numerous schools, youth centers and programs, and even youth equestrian stables in cardiac emergency preparedness, certifying all these sites as NC Heart Safe. There is no legal requirement for schools in North Carolina to have AEDs or cardiac action plans. Project ADAM North Carolina, which is managed through the Duke Children's Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center, will train any willing site or program in cardiac safety, ensuring life-saving support for children who experience sudden cardiac arrest.

Kids Care Grants, such as the one which helped launch Project ADAM North Carolina, are small grants to support patient needs and community health and are supported by Children's Miracle Network Hospitals fundraising across central and southeastern North Carolina. 

An Impact Story: Welcome Simulator Baby Paul!

Baby Paul joined the team in 2020 thanks to a gift from a donor. The advanced patient simulator is specifically constructed to train a multidisciplinary neonatology team in the care of pre-term babies.

“Baby Paul has helped us take our simulation and mock resuscitation program to the next level," says Laura Miller, MD, who just finished her third year as a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellow at Duke Children'. "Compared with our older manikins, Baby Paul is incredibly realistic, from his breathing patterns and cry to his 3D printed airway. Having a more realistic and high-tech manikin has allowed us to make life-or-death resuscitation scenarios and practices look and feel just like the real thing. With Paul, we can better evaluate and give feedback on critical aspects of the resuscitation, such as intubation, because his features include tiny sensors in his airway and a computer display that shows whether the breathing tube is in the correct position. Now that we are more familiar with Paul and all his functions, we plan to record our scenarios using his computer system and a video camera. This will help us to systemically review the resuscitation with the team afterward and provide feedback on the timing of interventions, communication, and teamwork. We believe that this method of reviewing mock resuscitations will ultimately translate to improved team performance during real-life resuscitations, helping us save the lives of the tiniest and most fragile babies.”