Sick and injured children in Walton County and Destin will soon have improved access to pediatric care, thanks to an expansion of pediatric emergency room services at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, with close support from the Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart, the region’s only children’s hospital.
“Each year, our Miramar Beach campus cares for more than 4,900 children in the emergency room,” said Henry Stovall, regional president of Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast. “We want to ensure those children have a smooth and positive experience, plus ready access to high-quality, specialized care at our Children’s Hospital in Pensacola. This expansion of children’s services in our community will help us to grow the care we are able to provide locally.”
The expanded pediatric services, which will be available Dec. 14, will include four treatment rooms, three observation rooms, plus advanced equipment specially designed for diagnosing and treating medical emergencies in kids. Because coming to the ER is stressful for children and families, the hospital team has worked to make the experience as child-friendly as possible.
The facility will be staffed by ER physicians and nurses who have additional training from pediatric critical care specialists and other pediatrics specialists at the Studer Family Children’s Hospital.
This new partnership will allow for more direct connections between the specialists at Children’s Hospital and the ER facility in Miramar Beach. Children’s Hospital provides a wide range of expertise in specialized areas of pediatrics including pediatric surgery, orthopedics, trauma, oncology, cardiology, neurology and neurosurgery.
The addition of pediatric ER services follows the opening of a Level II neonatal intensive care unit at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in the spring of 2020.
“As we continue to grow our children’s hospital services, we’re working hard to bring specialized healthcare closer to the communities we serve,” said Will Condon, president of the Studer Family Children’s Hospital. “With expanded pediatric services in Miramar Beach, fewer children and babies will need to be transferred to the Children’s Hospital in Pensacola for observation. They can be kept home in their community. This means greater convenience, improved access to healthcare and ultimately better outcomes for families of sick and injured kids.”
As Northwest Florida’s only pediatric trauma referral center, the Studer Family Children’s Hospital also offers medical transportation services – including both ground and air transportation – to bring critically ill and injured babies and children to the Children’s Hospital campus in Pensacola.
For more information about Northwest Florida’s only children’s hospital, to find a specialist or to hold your place in line for the pediatric emergency room, visit:
Author: SWal Life
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