Each week, on the CNF blog, we’re sharing a post about a member of the CNF community; starting with our Staff, Board of Directors, and Corporate Advisory Board. This week, meet Katie Hentges of the CNF staff.
What’s your role at CNF?
Manager of Education and Awareness Building. This means that I spend most of my time in the program area managing day to day operations of the Transitions of Care program, the Family Support and Empowerment Program (FSEP), and the Infantile Spasm Action Network (ISAN). In the future I will also help out with health IT related projects such as CHICA (Child Health Improvement Through Computer Automation).
How do you spend your time when you’re not at work?
When I’m not working hard for CNF, I love to spend time watching endless reruns of The Office with my husband. I also am a huge fan of travel and getting outside. Being from Minnesota, I grew up on the water so I love all water sports and spending a day on the lake with my family.
If you could have one super power, what would it be?
If I had one super power, it would be being lucky. (This is an actual super power documented in the most recent Deadpool movie.)
What do you love about your work with CNF?
I love that every day is different and a new challenge. The culture at CNF is one of innovation and excitement. As we’ve grown in 2019, so many opportunities are opening up and as staff, it gets us PUMPED to see what the future has in store for the child neurology community.
Which CNF Value do you identify with the most?
I identify most with the CNF value of collaboration. Working as a community is the only way that we will be able to complete our mission of having a world in which all children affected by neurologic disorders reach their full potential. Bringing multiple stakeholders together and using everyone’s experience and knowledge truly is the best way for the whole to be greater than the sum of it’s parts. I believe that everyone has a role to play and expertise to share and without being welcoming with our differences and goals we cannot achieve success.
How did life lead you to join CNF?
My life had a funny way of leading me to CNF. When I graduated from college my first job was as a wedding planner and I thought I had hit the jackpot of fun jobs. However, over time I began to realize that I wanted more and wanted to return to the world of health care and doing work that changed lives. From there I moved to the American Academy of Neurology where I had the pleasure of being on the quality improvement team where I helped establish the largest neurology specific clinical data registry in the world. When opportunity knocked at CNF, I felt like it was the perfect fit to continue my work helping patients build brighter futures.
You have 30 seconds to pitch Bill Gates about CNF at a conference – what do you say?
A wise man once said, “To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, find a solution, and deliver impact.” Mr. Gates, your words are ones that the Child Neurology Foundation lives by on a day to day basis. Our programs are grounded in listening to the community, synthesizing the results, creating a plan, and executing to change outcomes. We work within the child neurology community to bring stakeholders together to create a world in which all children affected by neurologic disorders reach their full potential. We build strong programs by being good stewards of the resources we receive and the needs of the people we serve. Everyday we strive to push the boundaries of what’s possible, learn from our mistakes, and tackle new challenges.