What We Carry

Healthcare treats the diagnosis, but what about everything else a family carries alongside it? In this episode, two innovators share their work on the parts of the care experience that clinical medicine often misses. Dr. Megan Visser, hospital chaplain, sociologist, and postdoctoral research fellow at The Saban Research Institute at CHLA, describes what spiritual care looks like across the spectrum of pediatric illness, from the acute crisis of a terminal diagnosis to the long, quiet grief of learning to live with a chronic condition like diabetes. She shares what surprises her about families' resilience, what parental guilt looks like across conditions and cultures, and why naming grief is often the first step to processing it. Aashish Mehta, CEO of TacnIQ, describes Backy™, a wearable device that uses tactile sensors to detect high-risk postures and movement patterns in real time, delivering vibrational feedback to the wearer. Currently deployed in hospital settings to support nurses, Backy™ is also being piloted in pregnancy-related back pain support and post-surgical recovery programs. Episode Resources: Diabetes Care & Education SingHealth: Singapore Health Services Connect with Dr. Megan Visser: Dr. Megan Visser Design with Adolescents and Young Adults for Self-Management and Health (DASH) Lab Children's Hospital Los Angeles: The Saban Research Institute Connect with Aashish Mehta: Aashish Mehta LinkedIn TacnIQ.ai Website TacnIQ.ai LinkedIn Backy™ - a wearable developed by TacnIQ Connect with us: KidsX Website KidsX LinkedIn Children's Hospital L.A. Website Children's Hospital L.A. Instagram Children's Hospital L.A. LinkedIn