UW Medicine Health System

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ENNIFER HERLIHY has always been a walker, sometimes going for miles on the trails near her home. So when she was no longer able to walk 100 feet without feeling exhausted, she knew something was wrong.

Jennifer was diagnosed with a severe liver disease and was referred to UW Medical Center. A life-saving transplant was just the beginning: After her operation, Jennifer’s doctors also managed to reduce the number of post-transplant immune suppression drugs from nearly 40 pills a day down to three. This innovative post-operative regimen was pioneered at UW Medicine, the only program in the region that consistently performs all types of organ transplants.

Jennifer now competes regularly with other UW Medicine transplant patients on Team Transplant. She even ran her 14th half marathon recently. All thanks to an innovative health system that is dedicated to getting people on their feet again. Whether it’s to walk. Or run.

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AURA GILBREATH uses her body as an instrument, expressing energy and emotion on the stage of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. In season, she’s rehearsing and performing nearly every hour of the day. So it’s important that she find a primary care physician that’s in tune not just with the unique demands of her art, but with her schedule as well.

With one of eight UW Neighborhood Clinics just a short walk away, Laura has found both. Not only can she count on the region’s most highly trained health-care professionals, but should she ever need it, she also has access to the entire UW Medicine health system — and some of the most highly skilled specialists in the country.

You may never use your body quite the way Laura does. But you can get the same world-class care just a few minutes from home, even if you don’t look nearly as graceful getting there.

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O TWO STROKES are exactly the same. And no formula exists that can be applied to every person who suffers one.

Because of this, every patient at the UW Medicine Stroke Center at Harborview Medical Center is cared for by a team of the most experienced and forward-thinking health-care professionals in the region. Doctors like Danial Hallam, Kyra Becker and Sandeep Khot are part of a multidisciplinary team that specializes in stroke and is committed to helping each patient make the fullest possible recovery.

This collaborative approach doesn’t end there: We also disseminate best practice guidelines for other hospitals in our region, ensuring we are improving the health of our community beyond our hospital walls. It’s the kind of innovative, groundbreaking work that happens daily at UW Medicine. And the extraordinary individuals who make it all possible are available to you.

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HEN A HOUSE FIRE in Alaska claimed the lives of three children before they could reach the right type of care, a determined UW Physician had a world-changing idea: If patients are losing their lives because they can’t access proper care in time, why not fly proper care to the patients?

Thus Airlift Northwest, the region’s first flying intensive care unit, was born here at UW Medicine. Years later, it still defines how care is delivered in the air and keeps the region within a short flight of the health care they need. Staffed with the highest level of critical care nurses and medical flight professionals in the country, teams are ready to handle everything from advanced cardiac life support to neonatal resuscitation, all while flying patients to the most advanced specialty care available.

A revolutionary idea resulting from a medical culture driven to find innovative ways of delivering the highest standard of patient care, even if it takes flying there.

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RANDELYN BERGSTEDT'S pregnancy was normal, until her 23rd week. That’s when she began having complications which led to preterm labor. After doing little more than administering an ultrasound, her doctor said the situation was hopeless.

Refusing to believe her baby would not survive, Brandelyn insisted that she be transferred to UW Medical Center. Once there, the obstetric team — which specializes in and routinely cares for high-risk pregnancies — took immediate action. They were able to extend her pregnancy for another crucial week, saving the baby’s life. Following delivery at 24 weeks, Dr. Michael Neufeld and the NICU team managed the complications and challenges of extreme prematurity, paying close attention to the necessary development of the newborn’s lungs.

Four months later, little Claren Bergstedt was able to go home for the first time. All thanks to a mother’s intuition, uncommonly dedicated professionals and an academic health system offering the latest treatments. Some people travel halfway around the world for the kind of care UW Medicine is able to provide. Isn’t it worth driving an extra mile or two?

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R. TUENG SHEN is one of the few surgeons in the world who also holds a Ph.D. in bioengineering. All that training has led to something even more remarkable: Using artificial corneas that she helped develop, Dr. Shen is able to restore sight for some of the most severely blind patients.

Obviously, medical miracles like this one don’t just happen. It takes a convergence of brilliant visionaries, the right resources and a culture of excellence. In other words, the UW Medicine Eye Institute at Harborview Medical Center. It’s a place where highly skilled UW Physicians and dedicated health-care professionals pursue world-changing ideas every day.

If your eyesight matters to you, shouldn’t you trust it to people who have devoted so much of themselves to protecting it?

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HERE WAS A TIME when life-saving robots only existed in the world of science fiction. Today, they are very much a reality in the world of medicine. In the hands of the right surgeons, robots are doing things previously thought impossible.

Doctors like Bill Ellis, Barbara Goff and Eduardo Mendez are pushing world-class surgical technology to its fullest potential and delivering unprecedented patient outcomes. The surgical robotics team at UW Medical Center is making surgeries less invasive, resulting in less pain and shorter post-surgical recovery time. Tumors that previously would have been considered inoperable are now within reach, allowing some patients to avoid chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

As part of a world-leading academic health system, UW Medicine doctors are not only working to develop new methods and techniques. They’re also training other surgeons here and across the country, so that patients everywhere can benefit from this remarkable new technology.

To some, surgical robots might still sound like something from the distant future, but at UW Medicine they are just another way our world-changing health system is bringing the future to you — today.

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LSA OLIVA thought she had simply injured her back. But when she was admitted to the ER at Northwest Hospital & Medical Center, Elsa was having a heart attack. She required open-heart surgery — but in her weakened state it was simply too risky.

So together, Northwest Hospital cardiologist Dr. Gary Weeks and UW Medicine cardiac surgeon Dr. Gabriel Aldea made a decision that would ultimately save Elsa’s life: Dr. Weeks performed an emergency angioplasty to open up her blocked coronary artery to stabilize her, and once her heart was strong enough, Dr. Aldea performed a successful quadruple bypass.

This sort of teamwork doesn’t happen by chance. It’s the result of a decade-long partnership between Northwest Hospital and UW Medicine’s Regional Heart Center. A partnership that has enriched Northwest Hospital’s cardiac program and has resulted in a lifetime of excellent care for every one of its patients. If you were to ask Elsa, she’d tell you there’s no reason to go anywhere else.

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T UW MEDICINE, we are eight entities united by a common mission to improve health. Here you’ll find the most comprehensive resources in the region, an integrated health system that is consistently recognized as one of the best in the nation, and people who are uncommonly committed to making a difference — starting with the patients we see every day. At UW Medicine we don’t just practice medicine, we continue to change it.