Marquise Brown’s relationship with Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU is truly a family affair. Among other long-time connections, our February 2017 Calendar Kid sees the very same CHoR pediatrician that his mom Kiara saw throughout her own childhood.

Pediatrician Dr. Linda Meloy has provided care to members of the Brown family for nearly 20 years. “She’s always been awesome,” Kiara’s mom, Raquel, says. “Dr. Meloy is so nice and friendly. She’s easy to talk to and remembers stuff about my kids and what they’re doing – extracurricular and all. I can’t say enough about how wonderful she is.”

Lisa Ripp, a registered nurse in CHoR’s primary care clinic, has a similar long-time association with the Browns. Kiara fondly remembers Lisa holding and comforting her when she needed shots during checkups as a child. And now that Kiara’s a new mom, Lisa serves as her lactation consultant.

Lisa earned her certification as a lactation consultant nearly two decades ago and is now the coordinator of CHoR’s newly expanded lactation clinic. She and a team of board-certified lactation consultants help moms like Kiara navigate through the ups and downs of breastfeeding.  “Lisa is so attentive and helps in any way she can,” Raquel says. “Like all the people we’ve met at CHoR, she always makes you feel comfortable and is always willing to listen.”

“She’s the best,” Kiara adds.

Photographed when he was six months old, Marquise is one of the youngest patients ever featured in CHoR’s calendar. His family brought his favorite toy along – a small blue octopus that lights up when you pull its legs – to be sure his happy personality came through in the photos. A family member, who is also a patient of Dr. Meloy’s, came to help out. He sat close by, smiling at Marquise and waving the octopus toy as photos were taken.

Marquise’s photo was featured with a calendar article about infant massage, a technique that Raquel, who has worked in child care for many years, often uses. Raquel currently cares for Marquise during the day and knows firsthand from working closely with many infants through the years just how helpful infant massage can be. “It’s a great way to help relax and quiet them down,” she explains. (Promoting overall development and adult-child bonding are among the other benefits of this technique outlined in the article.)

In the five months since the calendar photos were taken, Marquise has become a “speed crawler.” He’s now able to rush over to the television when he hears his favorite Mickey Mouse show is on and seems to be thoroughly enjoying his independence.

As she watches her own family grow and change, Raquel is pleased to see that CHoR is evolving as well. Raquel now takes her children and grandchildren to our new outpatient Pavilion for checkups. “It’s nice to see they’ve developed the beautiful new outpatient center and to see how CHoR has grown through the years,” she says. But it’s the level of care that she and her family experienced for so many years that Raquel is most pleased to see continue on for this new generation. “They always make you feel comfortable,” Raquel says. “Everyone at CHoR is so open-hearted and they always listen to your concerns and needs.”

The “Meet our Calendar Kids” blog series highlights children featured in CHoR’s Tid*Bits calendar. Join our mailing list to receive future issues of the Tid*Bits calendar and newsletters. We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know Marquise, our featured patient for February 2017.