“I think one of the most sensitive and challenging times are when our newborn babies are first diagnosed with cystic fibrosis,” says Sabah Akmal, LSCW,  a pediatric clinical social worker with UCLA Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine. “The parents are overwhelmed when they have a healthy baby, but their baby has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. They don’t know what that means, so our job is really to be there for them, to let them know that it will get better as we learn more about their child and develop a treatment plan.”

Tags: cystic fibrosis, cystic fibrosis in newborns, lung disease, Patient Story, pulmonary disease, Pulmonology, UCLA Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine