Aero Med Express

07/01/2025

Outstanding group of healthcare professionals.

For more than 73 years, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital has been dedicated to caring for every child who needs us. That mission recently took us to Washington, D.C., where we joined the Children's Hospital Association's Family Advocacy Day.

We were honored to be accompanied by the Sims family from Smithville, Miss., whose son Lane received life-saving care at Le Bonheur for a brain tumor. Together, we shared Lane’s story with lawmakers from Mississippi and Tennessee, advocating for the health and well-being of children in our region.

We met with Rep. Steve Cohen, Rep. David Kustoff, Rep. Trent Kelly, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Sen. Bill Hagerty and the staff of Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Sen. Roger Wicker to discuss the proposed cuts to Medicaid and other pediatric health care programs.

With more than 70% of our patients relying on Medicaid, we urged our Congress representatives to:
✅ Protect and strengthen Medicaid
✅ Prevent harmful cuts to pediatric health care
✅ Support the pediatric workforce
✅ Invest in children’s mental health

At Le Bonheur, we will always stand up for kids. Your support makes that possible.

04/01/2025

Welcome !

03/25/2025

During his intern year at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Bret Mettler, MD, spent five months in the pediatric Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU). After participating in a surgery to repair a stab wound to a heart, he was hooked. Pediatric cardiac surgery was the career for him.

Mettler has now brought his expertise to Le Bonheur Children’s as the new chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and executive co-director of the Heart Institute. Mettler’s future vision for the division is to build on the Heart Institute’s current successes and expertise to advance patient care at Le Bonheur and the entire field of cardiac surgery for the sake of kids.

“I have an internal desire to always be tested, to always do the best at everything, even at what seems like it’s the hardest,” said Mettler. It’s this mindset that led him directly into medicine and drove him to push the boundaries of his field.

Learn more about Dr. Bret Mettler in the latest issue of Delivering on A Promise at https://ow.ly/sYX950VjfUG

02/18/2025

Congratulations Dr. Johnson !

Congratulations to Dr. Jason Johnson on being named chief of Pediatric Cardiology at Le Bonheur. Johnson is also a professor of Pediatrics and Radiology at University of Tennessee Health Science Center Johnson previously served as associate chief of Pediatric Cardiology at Le Bonheur and as director of Cardiac MRI at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Science and Medicine.

11/27/2024

Outstanding !

A paramedic sat in the floor of Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) in tears. The individual with Memphis Fire Department had responded to a call of a very sick child and brought them to Le Bonheur. But the outcome for the child took a turn for the worse. The paramedic was desperate to know how to take better care of these kids in emergency situations.

This scene that Senior Director of Emergency Services Barbara Stewart, MSN, RN, CNL, NE-BC, and Emergency Department Clinical Educator Stephanie Foster, MSN, RN, CPEN, watched unfold was proof of what they already knew — emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics were thirsty for pediatrics-specific knowledge, and Le Bonheur had the ability to provide hands-on education to improve chances for kids transported to their ED.

Thanks to a partnership with Memphis Fire Department, emergency medical services (EMS) responders of all levels now have hands-on clinical rotations within Le Bonheur’s ED. The education obtained, relationships built and confidence gained is paving the way for better outcomes for children.

Learn more in the latest issue of Delivering on Promise https://ow.ly/wZEk50UfgEu

10/23/2024

A unique approach to healthcare in 2024.

Way to go LE Bonheur !

In honor of 75 years of Ford Philanthropy, we want to give a shoutout to Ford for helping further our work in West Tennessee. Ford has donated more than $100,000 to enhance access to world-class medical care for kids in West Tennessee through our Le Bonheur on the Move mobile medical unit.

Le Bonheur on the Move helps connect children to primary care providers in communities with limited access to medical support. Le Bonheur on the Move travels to participating schools and community sites in West Tennessee to see children who do not have a primary care provider.

Le Bonheur is also proud to provide pediatric care one to two times a month through the new Ford Community Center in Stanton. Learn more at https://ow.ly/ntSJ50TQ8jj

08/18/2024

Congratulations !

08/13/2024

The Rogers Fire Department Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Team (ARFF) comprises twenty-four members (not all pictured) with specific additional training to respond to and mitigate aircraft emergencies. ARFF 3 is housed at Station 3, with Engine 3 at the Rogers Municipal Airport.

08/13/2024

Great story !

Ten-year-old George Brewer was rarely sick.

But the headaches he had started to experience were so severe that he could not stop vomiting. George’s concerned parents, Kevin and Cindy Brewer, rushed their son to Le Bonheur Children’s Emergency Department, where he underwent a series of tests and MRIs.

His diagnosis: a brain tumor that needed to be removed. The tumor was caught early, and surgery was successful. Le Bonheur had helped save their son during one of the scariest times of their lives.

And it left the Brewers with a question: what could they do to give back to the hospital that had given so much to their family?

The answer came unexpectedly.

Cindy and Kevin Brewer along with Kent Underwood, co-owners of LEO Events, a Memphis-based events management agency, were approached by one of their employees with an idea: She had been researching the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, a nonprofit started by American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest was building state-of-the-art broadcast studios in children’s hospitals across the country — allowing patients to get away from the burdens of being hospitalized for a while to be entertained.

What if they tried to get one for Le Bonheur?

Read how Kevin and Cindy Brewer helped Le Bonheur partner with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation to receive a studio in the hospital at https://ow.ly/hMnl50SV2bR

07/12/2024

Congratulations !

06/09/2024

Shout out to Physicians Ambulance Service for the great service to our staff and patient on the transport to Cleveland Clinic. We appreciate your services.

02/25/2024

Le Bonheur Cardiac Surgeon Christopher Knott-Craig, MD, recently presented at the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh as part of their Ebstein's Anomaly Symposium. Knott-Craig is an expert in the surgical repair of this rare heart defect and presented his expertise and experience on the neonatal surgical management of Ebstein's anomaly at the symposium.