Wellness, revolutionized. - Children's Hospital Central California

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37
Partnering with
Sierra Vista
Regional Medical
Center, Children’s
brought pediatric
subspecialty
services to
San Luis Obispo
in 2009.
(Continued from page 36)
Pediatric Cardiology Medical Associates of Central California, composed
of Children’s cardiology physicians, hosted the 2009 meeting of the Western
Society of Pediatric Cardiology at Yosemite National Park’s historic Tenaya
Lodge. The group meets annually for a scientific session featuring courses
on a large number of topics.
Other disciplines also offer outreach education. Our Neonatal Intensive
Care Unit, or NICU, offers a full course catalog for nurses and other neonatal
clinicians. This advanced program, offered by the only Level III Regional
NICU in Central California, became the only area program in 2009 with the
SimNewB, a high-fidelity newborn simulator.
Respiratory Care Practitioners at Children’s hosted quarterly pulmonary
conferences open to all patient care providers, respiratory care students and
nursing students in the region. The conference draws about 80 participants
to each session. Children’s also hosts an annual Palliative Care Conference
that brings together the Hospital’s staff with palliative care professionals
from throughout the state. About 100 hospice care providers, representatives
of groups like Exceptional Parents Unlimited, pediatricians and nurses from
as far away as the Bay Area come to Madera for this unique gathering.
Children’s Clinical Education Department will be expanding outreach
education in 2010. Working with the staff that developed the NICU course
catalog, as well as physicians and nurses from throughout the facility,
the department will use this program as a model for education in other
disciplines.
Pulmonologist
Dr. Reddi Sudhakar
is one of Children’s pediatric
subspecialists who now sees
patients in San Luis Obispo.
New clinical partnerships.
Children’s Hospital Central California began an exciting partnership with
Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo in 2009, opening
The San Luis Obispo Pediatric Subspecialty Center at Sierra Vista. Providing
children and families access to some of the world’s finest pediatric subspecialists
in an environment that is close to home, the San Luis Obispo Pediatric
Subspecialty Center serves patients from San Luis Obispo County
and the Central Coast. The Center is a partnership between Sierra Vista
Regional Medical Center and Specialty Medical Group (SMG), in affiliation
with Children’s Hospital Central California. Supspecialists from Children’s
currently provide clinical services in cardiology, endocrinology and pulmonology.
These three subspecialties were selected based on results from
Sierra Vista’s own survey of community pediatricians who identified these
as the greatest needs.
The San Luis Obispo Pediatric Subspecialty Center becomes the third
practice in SMG’s and Children’s network, joining the Merced and Modesto
Pediatric Subspecialty Centers to bring care to kids where they need it most
– close to home.
The Hospital also entered into a relationship with Walgreens Pharmacies
in 2009. Children’s has traditionally operated two kinds of pharmaceutical
businesses. The first is within the Hospital itself. These are the pharmacists
and technicians who provide direct care to our inpatient, Emergency
Department and outpatient center populations. The second was our retail
pharmacy, a place where families could get their prescriptions filled, confident
that the pharmacists on hand understood children’s unique needs. As
Children’s Hospital examined business operations in 2008, we looked for
ways to improve our retail pharmacy business. The method for improvement
eventually presented itself to us - Walgreens wanted to buy Children’s retail
pharmacy.
This sale made sense in many ways, but Hospital leaders were concerned
about continuing to provide specific pediatric-based service. Children’s
and Walgreens came up with a solution. Not only would Walgreens keep
members of the existing staff and focus on kid’s needs, they would take this
newly-acquired pediatric expertise and spread it throughout the region.
There are many pediatric drug compounds that, in the past, you could only
get at Children’s. With Walgreens using our pharmacy as a launching pad,
the expertise and knowledge required to serve pediatric patients is making
its way into Walgreens stores throughout the Valley.