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New ER makes life safer for tiniest patients
By TOM JACOBS
Clear Lake Regional Medical Center has opened a facility that parents sometimes desperately need but never want to think about – a pediatric emergency room.
The 3,000-foot, 7-bed unit officially opened last week at Clear Lake Regional’s hospital in Webster, the latest phase in the center’s program to expand its offerings and provide patients with an alternative to a lengthy trip into the Houston Medical Center.
And with the delayed reopening of the UT Medical Branch pediatric services in Galveston after its ravaging by Hurricane Ike in September, Clear Lake Regional has been granting hospital privileges to a number UTMB physicians, turning the suburban facility into a truly regional health care center.
“We’re glad to have it,” said Abel Longoria, MD, medical director of Clear Lake Regional’s HealthOne Emergency Care Pearland clinic.
Longoria said that most pediatric emergency room visits, like those by adults, involve illnesses in the middle of the night, or injuries such as broken limbs, but that little patients (under age 17) often require a different approach to medical care than adults.
“They’re not little adults,” Longoria said.
The Pedi ER will be staffed by physicians with specialized training in emergency care for children, and its pediatric nurses also are undergoing similar nursing training. Patients will still enter the hospital’s main emergency room, but then can proceed directly to the pedi unit for registration and evaluation. The Pedi ER also has a separate waiting room, decorated in a rainforest motif.
“Our physicians have either trained specifically in the field of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, or have extensive experience caring for children in the ER,” said James Vincent, MD, the hospital’s Director of Pediatric Emergency Services. “We are comfortable addressing the unique needs of children of all ages, from neonates to adolescents.”
With the expansion of physician specialties at the hospital and in the southeast Houston area in general (Clear Lake Regional’s medical staff currently numbers more than 600), even the most serious emergency cases can be evaluated in the ER, and the patient either admitted to the hospital or transported on to the Houston Medical Center, said. Gautam Malkani, MD, medical director of Clear Lake Regional’s 10-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, which opened earlier this year.
Initially, Clear Lake Regional’s Pedi ER will be open from 3 p.m. to midnight daily for patients from infants up to age 17 (two of the seven exam rooms feature basinets for infants), with expanded hours as demand warrants.
The 3,000-foot, 7-bed unit officially opened last week at Clear Lake Regional’s hospital in Webster, the latest phase in the center’s program to expand its offerings and provide patients with an alternative to a lengthy trip into the Houston Medical Center.
And with the delayed reopening of the UT Medical Branch pediatric services in Galveston after its ravaging by Hurricane Ike in September, Clear Lake Regional has been granting hospital privileges to a number UTMB physicians, turning the suburban facility into a truly regional health care center.
“We’re glad to have it,” said Abel Longoria, MD, medical director of Clear Lake Regional’s HealthOne Emergency Care Pearland clinic.
Longoria said that most pediatric emergency room visits, like those by adults, involve illnesses in the middle of the night, or injuries such as broken limbs, but that little patients (under age 17) often require a different approach to medical care than adults.
“They’re not little adults,” Longoria said.
The Pedi ER will be staffed by physicians with specialized training in emergency care for children, and its pediatric nurses also are undergoing similar nursing training. Patients will still enter the hospital’s main emergency room, but then can proceed directly to the pedi unit for registration and evaluation. The Pedi ER also has a separate waiting room, decorated in a rainforest motif.
“Our physicians have either trained specifically in the field of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, or have extensive experience caring for children in the ER,” said James Vincent, MD, the hospital’s Director of Pediatric Emergency Services. “We are comfortable addressing the unique needs of children of all ages, from neonates to adolescents.”
With the expansion of physician specialties at the hospital and in the southeast Houston area in general (Clear Lake Regional’s medical staff currently numbers more than 600), even the most serious emergency cases can be evaluated in the ER, and the patient either admitted to the hospital or transported on to the Houston Medical Center, said. Gautam Malkani, MD, medical director of Clear Lake Regional’s 10-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, which opened earlier this year.
Initially, Clear Lake Regional’s Pedi ER will be open from 3 p.m. to midnight daily for patients from infants up to age 17 (two of the seven exam rooms feature basinets for infants), with expanded hours as demand warrants.
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