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Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, MD, MPH, FAAP | Pediatric ER

@drsylvia_o

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Pediatrician | Pediatric EM | EMS | Medical Director Christ Follower • Filmmaker • Author Education & Advocacy

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Cardiac arrest does not wait until you feel prepared.

As a pediatric emergency medicine physician, I know how quickly a normal day can become an emergency. When someone’s heart stops beating effectively, every minute matters, and often, the first person who can help isn’t a doctor or a paramedic.

It’s the person standing nearby.

Knowing CPR, recognizing cardiac arrest, calling 911, and using an AED when one is available can help keep someone alive until emergency medical professionals arrive.

You do not have to work in medicine to be part of the chain of survival. You just have to be willing to act.

This Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, consider this your reminder to learn CPR, refresh the skills you already have, and know where the AEDs are in the places you spend the most time.

Because in an emergency, the person who is “in good hands” might be someone standing right next to you. ❤️

Have you ever taken a CPR class?

#CardiacArrestAwareness #CPRSavesLives #LearnCPR #EmergencyMedicine #PediatricEmergencyMedicine by @drsylvia_o

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2 days ago

Time is a gift, not currency.

What if the blessing isn’t in making more, but in knowing when enough is enough?

Going back to work has meant making a difficult choice for this next chapter: fewer shifts, significantly less income, and more time.

And that decision hasn’t been easy.

For years, I’ve worked hard, served others, and built a career I love. It’s easy to believe that doing more, earning more, and accomplishing more means we’re succeeding.

But after everything I’ve been through, I see it differently.

My health is a gift from God.
My time is a gift from God.
And neither was given to me simply to be traded for a bigger paycheck.

Jesus has reminded me that my worth was never measured by my productivity or how much I could accomplish in a day.

So in this season, I’m choosing health.

I’m choosing time with the people I love.

I’m choosing presence.

I’m choosing faith over the fear that comes with doing less.

Money can be earned again. Time cannot.

And I’m trusting God with the rest. ❤️🙏🏾

What are you making more time for in this season of your life?

#FaithOverFear #CancerSurvivor #LifeAfterCancer #ChoosingHealth #DrSylvia by @drsylvia_o

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5 days ago

Be honest: did you automatically pick the biggest cut? 👀

I’m taking… 🚨

#2.

A small puncture wound might not look nearly as dramatic as a deep, bloody cut. But if a child suddenly can’t fully move a finger after an injury to the hand, that tells me there could be more happening underneath the skin.

That’s why we don’t triage wounds based on size alone.

We’re thinking about bleeding, location, how the injury happened, and whether nerves, tendons, blood vessels, or other structures could be involved.

Sometimes the smallest-looking injury gives us the biggest clue.

Which patient did you choose?

This post is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please talk with your healthcare team about your individual situation.

#PediatricER #KidsHealth #InjuryPrevention #EmergencyMedicine #DrSylvia by @drsylvia_o

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6 days ago

You can take the pediatric emergency medicine doctor out of the ED… but apparently, I’m still thinking about triage in the middle of Tokyo. 🚆🇯🇵

A busy train station and a busy pediatric emergency department have more in common than you might think: noise, movement, competing priorities, and a lot happening at once.
In both places, situational awareness matters.

In the pediatric ED, that means being able to look at a room full of patients, recognize who needs attention first, adapt when circumstances change, and stay focused when everything around you is moving quickly.

It’s a skill we build over years of training, and apparently one I bring on vacation with me, too. 😂

What’s a skill from your job that you catch yourself using everywhere?

#PediatricEmergencyMedicine #Pediatrics #EmergencyMedicine #PhysicianLife #MedEd by @drsylvia_o

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9 days ago

Beyond Black Girl Magic.

There is no magic here. There is POWER in gathering with my brilliant “sistas” in medicine. Loved partnering in this dynamic pivot panel. @drjoyel @doctoringdifferently @doctorona.atl

I’m deeply grateful to God for opportunities to speak in spaces like the Nexus Conference and to its incredible founders and organizers for the invitation. @blackingastro

This weekend was empowering, inspiring, and life-changing. As a breast cancer survivor, I know firsthand how important it is to have community, support, and people who understand the journey. Sharing my story while standing alongside Black women in medicine—women breaking barriers, shaping healthcare, and changing lives—was deeply meaningful. LESS THAN 3% of all ACTIVE doctors are Black women. @doctor.bayo doctor.bayo
A special thanks to @k_jeanpierre for an amazing fireside chat.

Our experiences are not all the same, but we should never have to face them alone. We need each other. We must stick together, lift one another, and sponsor one another. @dr.lewanzaharris

Ubuntu: I am because WE are.

Thank you for an amazing weekend! ❤️ #ABGHNEXUS26 #BeyondBlackGirlMagic #BlackWomenInMedicine #BreastCancerSurvivor #ubuntu by @drsylvia_o

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11 days ago

A trip to Japan with my husband and our two daughters. 🇯🇵❤️

After a year that asked so much of me, this trip felt like more than a vacation. It was part of a promise I’ve made to myself after cancer: to live.

To go places I’ve dreamed of going. To try the food. To take the pictures. To laugh with my girls. To hold my husband’s hand somewhere completely new. To be present for the ordinary moments that somehow become the ones you remember most.

Cancer has a way of changing your relationship with time. For me, survivorship isn’t just about getting back to the life I had before. It’s about being intentional with the life I have now.

Japan gave us time together as a family, new experiences, plenty of adventures, and memories I know I’ll carry with me for a very long time.

Now, I’m heading back to work feeling grateful, refreshed, and ready to return to another part of my life that gives me so much purpose.

My mission after cancer is a simple one: keep living. And whenever I can, live big. 💗

What’s one thing you’ve been saying you’ll do “someday”?

#LifeAfterCancer #CancerSurvivor #Survivorship #FamilyTravel #Japan by @drsylvia_o

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12 days ago

This one might start an argument in the comments. 👀

Who gets the last pediatric ER bed?

The answer is… 🚨

#2.

A child who may have swallowed a button battery needs immediate evaluation, even if they’re running around and acting completely normal.

Why? A button battery lodged in the esophagus can cause serious tissue injury, and a child may not immediately show you how dangerous the situation is.

That’s one of the tricky things about pediatric emergency medicine: sometimes the history changes the urgency before the child ever “looks sick.”

Before reading the answer, which one did you pick?

This post is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please talk with your healthcare team about your individual situation.

#PediatricER #KidsHealth #ParentingTips #EmergencyMedicine #DrSylvia by @drsylvia_o

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13 days ago

Taking the stage at @blackingastro with @drsylvia_o to talk about the Power of the Pivot! Let’s go! 🎤 #abghnexus26 taken in New York, New York by @drsylvia_o

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14 days ago

Breast Cancer Awareness Month feels different when you’ve lived it.

This past year has held some of the hardest moments of my life. There have been appointments, treatment, uncertainty, exhaustion, and days when I had to give myself permission to simply get through the day.

But there has also been so much life.

And through all of it, my faith in Jesus carried me. In the moments when I felt strong and in the moments when I didn’t, my faith reminded me that I was never walking through this alone.

I continued teaching and mentoring the next generation of physicians. I kept advocating for the communities and causes I care deeply about, including working toward recognition of the incredible legacy of the Freedom House Ambulance Service with the Congressional Gold Medal. I gave speeches, traveled, spent time with family, celebrated milestones, laughed, rested, and kept showing up when I could.

Cancer became part of my story this year, but it was never the whole story.

If anything, this experience has made me even more aware of how precious it is to have a life filled with purpose, faith, and people you love. There were highs and lows, strength and vulnerability, moments when I felt like myself and moments when I hardly recognized the life I was living.

As a physician, I have spent my career caring for others. Becoming the patient has given me a perspective I never asked for, but one I will carry with me in the way I teach, advocate, practice medicine, and move through the world.

So this Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’m reflecting not only on what I’ve endured, but on everything I was still able to experience along the way.

There was treatment. And there was also faith, teaching, advocacy, travel, family, purpose, joy, and a whole lot of living.

If you know someone fighting breast cancer, navigating treatment, or living on the other side of it, tag them below and remind them that this Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they are not alone. 💗

#BreastCancerAwareness #BreastCancerSurvivor #BreastCancerSupport #CancerAwareness #StrongerTogether by @drsylvia_o

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16 days ago

Down to the wire, but never too late to recognize my patients living with sickle cell disease.

I’m honored to have played a pivotal role in consulting with the writers and producers of The Pitt on a powerful sickle cell storyline—one they transformed into life-changing television.

Even more meaningful, this story is now being used to educate researchers and healthcare providers across the academic community.

But most importantly, it honors the patients at the center of it all.

The pain of sickle cell disease is real. Bone pain is real. And seeking care for that pain is NOT “pain-seeking.”

Our patients deserve to be believed, respected, and treated with dignity—every single time. @thepittofficial @hbomax @warnerbros @thepittfanpage @thepittpage @thepittpodcast @therealnoahwyle @therealtboz

#SickleCellAwarenessMonth #SickleCellDisease #SickleCellAwareness #ThePitt #HealthEquity by @drsylvia_o

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17 days ago

There are moments in your career that feel like a full-circle gift. ❤️

I am incredibly grateful to @shikhajainmd , @wimedicineorg , and Dean @vineetaroramd for the opportunity to return to my alma mater, the @uchipritzker University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and speak as we kicked off the Centennial Lecture Series.

And I have to say… the Women in Medicine conference was one of the most empowering and inspiring conferences I have EVER attended in my career.

To my incredible sisters in medicine: thank you for the work you do—not only for medicine, but for humanity. Your leadership, courage, advocacy, and commitment inspire me more than you know. @doctoringdifferently @askladoctora @doctor.bayo @anitakpatelmd @andreaaustinmd @midlifebyserene @drjenniferlincoln and so many more!

And a special thank you to the Glaucomfleckens @docglauc and @ladyglaucomflecken for all that you do to use storytelling and humor to connect with the medical community—and for taking the time to highlight my work. It means more than you know.

I am better because of you. ❤️

What a privilege to reconnect with Pritzker, celebrate women in medicine, and be reminded of the power of community.

#WomenInMedicine #WomenInMedicineConference #WomenPhysicians #WomenInLeadership #PhysicianLeadership by @drsylvia_o

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17 days ago

Dr. Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at UPMC Children’s, was a speaker at the “Women in Medicine Summit” this past weekend. We had the honor to create a slide deck to capture the journey of her career. 👩🏽‍⚕️

At Lomax Comms Group (LCG), we do more than create email marketing campaigns and PR. We help you tell your story through slide deck designs.

If you need visuals for an upcoming speaking engagement in October, send us a message today.
#CommunicationsManager #houstonbusinessowner #BrandVisibility #publicrelations #MarketingStrategy #consultinglife by @drsylvia_o

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19 days ago