R-Braves & Diamond Duck deliver books to VCU Medical Center

By Michael Ford
University News Services

WHAT:         Several members of the Richmond Braves baseball team and Diamond Duck, the team mascot, will visit with pediatric patients at the VCU Medical Center.

                    Representatives from the baseball team will present hundreds of new children's books donated by local baseball fans. Anyone who brought a new children's book to the Braves' home game on July 10, was granted free admission to that game.

            With 80 pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists and nearly 25  
            specialty programs and clinics, the Children's Medical Center at
            VCU is the largest pediatric service in Central Virginia, handling
            more than 90,000 pediatric patient visits and 3,000 births
            annually.

The center also features a 12-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit that is equipped with the latest instrumentation and life-support techniques for the care of critically ill children, including head-injury patients and transplant recipients.

                   With a 48-bed Newborn Intensive Care Unit and a 25-bed well-baby
                   nursery, the CMC provides care to infants born at VCU Medical Center
                   and is a referral center for sick newborn infants from several regional
                   hospitals.

WHERE:        VCU Children's Medical Center, 1250 E. Marshall St.

WHO:                      •    Shira Cantor, Department of Pediatrics, VCU Medical Center
•    Members of the Richmond Braves baseball team
•    Diamond Duck, Richmond Braves mascot

WHEN:            10 a.m., Thursday, July 31, 2003