Children’s hospital health program awarded

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Malibu local Dr. Philippe Friedlich holds the 1000th baby treated at the hospital’s Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation program.

A program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles that treats infants awaiting heart and lung transplants recently was honored for its efforts. The program offers treatment, called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which supports babies suffering respiratory and heart failure who require emergency transport, surgery and access to heart-lung bypass equipment.

The ECMO program was named a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Life Support by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization. The program resides in a department under Dr. Philippe Friedlich, a Malibu resident.

Friedlich, an avid scuba diver, is the hospital’s Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit (NICCU) medical director and a professor of pediatrics and surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

“ECMO is an incredible technology that has saved countless lives through the support of hundreds of healthcare providers here at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles,” Friedlich said. “For the past quarter of a decade, we have worked very hard to provide this level of support. Because of this technology, and our dedicated ECMO team, many children are able to live healthy, normal lives.”