By: Kirby Tello Photo by: Rachel Benavides
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Meet Ada Booth, M.D., F.A.A.P. and attending physician with thebrChild Abuse Resources and Evaluation (CARE) team at Driscoll Children’sbrHospital. The CARE team primarilybrprovides medical forensic services to children who are victims of physicalbrabuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Thebrteam consists of two board-certified child abuse pediatricians (Dr. Booth andbrher counterpart), forensic nurse examiners, social workers, and support staffbrwith involvement from hospital administration.
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Before joining the CARE team, Dr. Booth received her medical degree frombrIndiana University School of Medicine in 2006. She completed her pediatricbrresidency training at University Hospital and Clinics at the University ofbrMissouri in Columbia. While Dr. Booth had been interested in medicine herbrentire life, she quickly realized that her passion was pediatrics. “I like pedsbrbecause the patients are always positive,” says Dr. Booth. “Pretty muchbrregardless of the situation, they are happy, smiling, and laughing – evenbrthrough the toughest situations.” Therefore, she knew early on that child abusebrprevention fulfilled her professional interests. The prevention work is stillbrher favorite part of her job.
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Having spent seven years in Corpus Christi so far,brDr. Booth is all too familiar with the child advocacy needs in the community.brMuch of her work starts with the medical staff at Driscoll, where the medicalbroffice alerts the CARE team of suspected neglect of a child. However, Dr. Boothbrreceives child abuse patients from many sources. “We receive referrals frombrinvestigative agencies or even familiesbrif they are aware of our services,” explains Dr. Booth. “We hope people don’tbrever have to use our services, but we want people to know that we exist and canbrcome directly to us,” she says.
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That’s where the prevention work comes in. Dr. Boothbrand the CARE team often partner with local non-profit organizations thatbrpartake in child advocacy initiatives to spread awareness about non-accidentalbrtrauma and child abuse. One particular non-profit, Court Appointed SpecialbrAdvocates (CASA), has a more specific relationship with CARE. At times, CASAbrwill consult the CARE team when they need more information about a child’sbrmedical issues and injuries to support a case in the event of a trial.
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Dr. Booth understands the enormous responsibilitybrthat falls on pediatric physicians. She explains that in a way, “the ownness isbron peds to fix the world…because it is the children who grow up to be the futurebrof the community.”
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The work of the CARE team is more vital than anyonebrmight think. Before CARE existed, children in abusive environments wouldbressentially be returned home to more potential harm. Now, Dr. Booth, whobrcurrently serves as the Child Abuse Prevention Specialist for the Texas StatebrFatality Review Team, has banded together with her local teams with thebrsingular focus of helping to reduce the number of preventable child fatalitiesbrin our community.
