where is the best and top-rated CF center?

panderson1215

New member
my husband and I are in diagnoses limbo for our daughter. she is 7 weeks old, no symptoms but two intermediate sweat tests and 1 copy of deltaf508 gene identified so we are waiting on more testing. However, if she is diagnosed we have talked about moving near the best CF center we can and I can't seem to find a goo answer anywhere. does anyone know or have an experience of the most top-rated CF center for children?
 

ryry11

New member
Seattle Children's has some of the best doctors in the US. Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, who was key in developing Pulmozyme and TOBI (a daily medication used to thin mucus and an antibiotic used to treat pseudomonas, a common bug in CF patients), is one of the main doctors at center. She also is in charge of the Therapeutic Development Network for CF, which is based at the Seattle Children's Research Institute. She recently spoke at NACFC (the yearly CF conference for doctors) about the developments in Kalydeco and covering all patients using gene therapy. I have LOVED Children's, and am SO sad I have to leave them to go to UW, the adult center. My lung function is 30+ percent higher than when I started at Children's two years ago. I would recommend them without a doubt. Plus, Seattle is pretty neat, too.
 

sroeseler

New member
my husband and I are in diagnoses limbo for our daughter. she is 7 weeks old, no symptoms but two intermediate sweat tests and 1 copy of deltaf508 gene identified so we are waiting on more testing. However, if she is diagnosed we have talked about moving near the best CF center we can and I can't seem to find a goo answer anywhere. does anyone know or have an experience of the most top-rated CF center for children?



depend what your looking for as "best" an larger city will rank higher on a scale because there are more patients to bring up any average. Philly, Dallas, and Denver top a few different lists. we've moved and used 3 different centers now and care is pretty standard, there aren't allot of options currently. most of what you'll do is preventative to try and not get sick or to keep symptoms from affecting daily activities. just find a center with a care team that makes you happy and treats you well
 

Printer

Active member
Mayo Clinic was rated #1 in the country two years ago. I remember the Clinic at Boston Children's being shut down, so that the entire CF Staff could go to MN to determine what made Mayo #1.

Bill
 

Aboveallislove

Super Moderator
I can totally relate to your thought. I remember as we drove home from the CF Center with DS when he was 2 weeks old I bawled we're moving to X (the city where the Center was). I think that's a normal response. And if you are no where near an accredited center a move might make sense. But there top centers all change and they are all good. The care is very standardized so you won't see much different between top centers. And you could move and HATE the doctor and the center. So I guess I'd suggest making a list of the top 20 centers and then consider job opportunities (and the insurance), family, the environment, etc. Also, some states have supplemental insurance that covers co-pays etc which is very helpful too. Please know of my prayers for you in this especially difficult time.
 

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
I know of some people who fly or drive in to their care centers a couple times a year --- Denver, U of MN, UNC..... You can go onto the CFF.org website and see the ratings for different care centers. We have a center a few miles from our house; however, we drive 3.5 hours a few times a year to see our doctors. Much better care -- proactive rather than reactive. There are several families from our area who do the same. We get an excellent response via phone calls or emails. And I have a friend who used to go to one of the clinics in the City, which is rated as a top center and weren't happy with the care and now go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Rumor has it they're going thru the CF Center
accreditation process.
 

Beccamom

New member
I think it is important to be near an accredited CF center, but as for which consider the fact that it is also important to live near a support system for yourself and your husband. Living near grandparents or close friends is important too.
 

panderson1215

New member
that's what ive been thinking beccamom, but all of our family is so spread out except my side and they are in California, which is a little to expensive for us to move back to right now
 
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Dhobs

Guest
Seattle Children's has some of the best doctors in the US. Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, who was key in developing Pulmozyme and TOBI (a daily medication used to thin mucus and an antibiotic used to treat pseudomonas, a common bug in CF patients), is one of the main doctors at center. She also is in charge of the Therapeutic Development Network for CF, which is based at the Seattle Children's Research Institute. She recently spoke at NACFC (the yearly CF conference for doctors) about the developments in Kalydeco and covering all patients using gene therapy. I have LOVED Children's, and am SO sad I have to leave them to go to UW, the adult center. My lung function is 30+ percent higher than when I started at Children's two years ago. I would recommend them without a doubt. Plus, Seattle is pretty neat, too.

We see Dr. Ramsey and we just LOVE her! We've seen her since DD was diagnosed at 2 days old after surgery for meconium ileus (genetic tests later verified DDF508). My DD had two hospital stays last year due to an aspergillus infection and came out of it with better lung function than ever. All of the teams at Seattle Children's are wonderful and excellent with kids.
 

Simba15

Member
my husband and I are in diagnoses limbo for our daughter. she is 7 weeks old, no symptoms but two intermediate sweat tests and 1 copy of deltaf508 gene identified so we are waiting on more testing. However, if she is diagnosed we have talked about moving near the best CF center we can and I can't seem to find a goo answer anywhere. does anyone know or have an experience of the most top-rated CF center for children?
It depend on where you live. Hartford, CT is good. I would not recommend Yale
 
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Wldhrtd1

Guest
dhobs... sorry to highjack the thread but just curious why your daughter needed to be in hospital for aspergillus?

to add.. I have two sons with CF.. one goes to Dartmouth Hitchcock upstate NH and the other goes to Mass General in Boston...
 
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Dhobs

Guest
Wldhrtd1: It caused a mucous plug which partially collapsed one of her lungs.
 
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Wldhrtd1

Guest
really.. interesting... Andrew, he's 17, has had aspergillus 3 x.. hospitalization overnight first time.. o2 dropped to low 80's and shortness of breath.. scary....
 
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Deb

Guest
I would agree with others that some things are more important than #1 rating. (having support, finding a doctor and team that you really like, etc) I drive 3 hours to my clinic visits and fly to Denver once a year just for another opinion.
 

Krazy4Katie

New member
We live in Baltimore and are thankful we are close to Johns Hopkins. They are wonderful, as I'm sure all the other CF centers nationwide are too. Good luck with your daughter
 

Printer

Active member
The Approved CF Centers are CLOSELY controlled by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation with the goal of parity. While there are still differences, you will be safe with any CF Approved Center.

Bill
 

Jennyvb17

New member
Finding doctors you feel comfortable with is important. I was lucky to be born at a hospital with an accredited cf center, and they were great through my childhood.

When I was 20 they got a new adult dr, and I felt that he wasn't invested in his patients. Now I drive 3 hours to the other side of the state for care. It usually works out well even for hospitalizations
 

Liza

New member
Quick question here, Those of you who see Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, has she always been there or was she once at Duke? Her name is so very familiar.

Now to the question at hand. We are a retired military family and have been to many CF clinics over the years, all accredited centers for the CFF and one in Europe. The best clinic to one person may not be to another. My girls have been to Duke, Cook Children's, Dallas Children's, Phoenix Children's, St. Petersburg, Maastricht (NL), Dayton Children's, UNMC, Lucille Packard & Stanford, LSU Shreveport (present). My girls early years were very healthy so visits to clinic were about every 4-6 months, those clinics were Duke, St. Petersburg & Phoenix. We weren't very impressed with Dayton Children's docs. The hospital was decent back in 2001. Maastricht was in The Netherlands so they don't count but they were awesome! Loved the doc & the hospital! Out of all these centers, our collective most favorite place was UNMC (Omaha, NE). We so loved the doc's, clinic staff and hospital staff and the hospital itself and were so confident with them that we allowed our girls to go to college out of state to return to them. A 10 hr drive away from home, because we trusted the doctor's that much! My oldest once told one of her docs (she was 19/20 at the time) that if he ever moved that she'd just follow him to keep him as her doctor. Lucille Packard/Stanford also was a superb clinic. My oldest was listed for tx at the time we went there and the CF clinic staff was wonderful! We had relocated for that. Dallas Children's was the adult clinic and they are great! Doc is aggressive and a great bedside manner. My daughter really liked her. Now, she is married and goes to the adult clinic at LSU Shreveport. She really likes the doc there. She went from the children's CF clinic to the adult clinic and is the director of the CF clinic. My daughter likes that she is really in tune with her patients and listens to them. The hospital itself could be better. The nursing staff is pretty good, most of them are super nice but as with any place, there are a few not so great ones. Cook Children's is the only clinic that has multiple CF docs that didn't seem to work as a team. You see only one doc. If you are in the hospital, the other doc's share call but don't (at least from 2005-2008) get involved, even when you're in hospital. For example, if you call the clinic and it's your doctor's day off, well... ya gotta wait til tomorrow. It took 24 hrs to get a call back when you called, almost every single time. This was a huge adjustment coming from UNMC where you saw every member of the team and if you called, 98% of the time you spoke with a real person. She'd take a message, the nurse, Stacy, would call you back usually within the hour and then after talking with the doc, would call us back before the end of the day.

A good clinic depends on what your needs are. Some people need docs with a great bedside manner, others don't really care as long as their great docs. We, needed both. It's good to be within a reasonable drive to your clinic but sometimes not always possible. Good luck in finding the right fit for you and your child.
 

Liza

New member
Thanks! I read her bio and I see she's been there for all of her career. Which, when I mentioned to my daughter's current CF doc, being surprised that some of her old docs were still at the hospitals she had visited as a young child, she told me that they tend to stay put.... pretty much for ever. Lol.
 
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