These Are the Top Pediatric Care Providers in Westchester
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Pediatrics After Hours Clinic Is Moving - Gainesville Sun
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Peds After Hours: An Alternative To The ER For Kids - Nj.com
By Barbara Rybolt for Summit Medical Group
Ten-year-old Hank hurt his arm during baseball practice this afternoon, but it didn't seem serious. Now, it's 7:30 p.M. And he's complaining he can't raise his arm or make a fist without it hurting. What do you do?
If you are in the know, you call Summit Medical Group's Pediatrics After Hours office nearest you, speak to the triage nurse, tell her what's wrong and make an appointment for that evening. Not long after you call, your son is seeing a pediatrician and, not long after arriving, you leave with Hank's arm in a soft cast and an appointment for the next morning with a Summit Medical Group (SMG) doctor -- in this case an orthopedist. The co-pay is the same as a regular office visit and your SMG pediatrician's records are updated to include everything about that evening's visit.
The Pediatrics After Hours program has helped countless parents who are faced with the choice of waiting until morning to take their child to the doctor or going to an Emergency Room, by providing them with reliable access to immediate pediatric treatment. SMG operates three Pediatrics After Hours offices, in Berkeley Heights, Westfield and Livingston. Each of the sites is located within the group's pediatric practice and the staff has access to the labs, X-rays and other facilities in the building.
During a recent interview, Jane Simmons, director of Women and Children's Health, with Summit Health Management said the program offers "the best of a private physician's office and a lower acuity emergency room. We do simple things -- casting for fractures, minor sports injuries, stitches on minor cuts." The staff also sees and treats rashes, coughs, colds, ear infections, sore throats, and all types of childhood illnesses that a pediatrician would treat in his or her office.
Best of all, the offices are open when other pediatricians' offices are closed -- including weekends and holidays. Patients can walk in, but it's always best for the caretaker or parent to call first, so they can describe the child's situation, make an appointment and then come in -- usually right away. That way a child "with a fever is not sitting in the waiting room," Simmons said."Life has changed. Now, the majority of families are either dual working parents or single parents -- it was essential to develop this program to deal with the changing family," Simmons said.
Barbara E. McDevitt, MD, once directed a similar program before going into private practice. That was when she realized just how valuable an after-hours program is. She said "I was sending people to the emergency room when it wasn't necessary" because that was the only option when her office wasn't open.
Today, she is one of the physicians working in SMG's Pediatrics After Hours program and couldn't be happier. "When Summit Medical Group approached me, I jumped at the chance" to work in the program.
The Pediatrics After Hours program started about 40 years ago, as an "extension of general office hours," so a doctor could "be available to families and patients for things that wouldn't wait until the next day," Simmons said. Basically, it was an internal medical program at SMG, then, about five years ago, the group brought in Emergency Room pediatric physicians to staff the program, she said.
Throughout the process of developing the program there has been one major goal, "to keep the children out of the emergency room and get them appropriate care in the right location," Simmons said. "We felt very strongly we should open the doors to the whole community." That means a child's doctor does not have to be a member of the Summit Medical Group for the child to be treated.
Today, there is always one physician and/or one nurse practitioner, as well as a full complement of triage nurses, on site. The nurses are integral to the success of the program, they keep in touch with the parents or caregivers, both before the child is brought in and after the child goes home, just to make sure there are no complications.
Many of the patients are "regulars," children with asthma, others with chronic illnesses, and the nurses and pediatricians have built a relationship with the children and their parents. That relationship allows the doctors and caretakers to communicate about the child's medical situation and determine whether the child should be treated at the SMG Pediatrics After Hours office or at a hospital.
"If it is not a life-threatening emergency, it does not have to be treated in an emergency room," Dr. McDevitt said.
The doctors also see a lot of minor sports injuries, most of which occur after 5 p.M. And on weekends, and often don't need to be treated in an emergency room. If the child can get through the day and be seen at 7 p.M., that saves a lot of time, trouble and money for the parent, because he or she doesn't have to leave work and the child doesn't have to go to the emergency room. They try to get the patients in and out in 30 minutes or less, although that doesn't always happen, Simmons said.
"SMG really did this as a service to the community and patients. The call is billed as an office visit with extra services," such as an injection, soft cast or stitches, added to the bill, Dr. McDevitt said.
"The physicians who work there have a lot of experience in pediatrics and in pediatric emergency care," she said. Because the Pediatrics After Hours office is located in the pediatric area, it is more like an office visit and helps "allay the children's fears," she said.
For the doctor or nurse practitioner who is seeing a patient for the first time, the electronic record system used by SMG means there is immediate access to the patient's medical records before treating the child and the records can be updated when the patient leaves. If the patient is from the community, the records can be sent to their regular pediatrician.
SMG offers Pediatrics After Hours offices in Berkeley Heights, Westfield and Livingston. The Berkeley Heights office is located on the flagship campus, 1 Diamond Hill Road, (908) 277-8601. The Westfield office is at 574 Springfield Ave., (908) 277-8601, and the Livingston office at 75 E. Northfield Road, (973) 436-1540. The Berkeley Heights and Westfield offices are open from 4 To 9 p.M., Monday to Friday and from 8:30 a.M. To 5 p.M. On Saturday and Sunday. The Livingston office is open from 1 to 9 p.M. Monday to Friday and from 8:30 a.M. To 5 p.M. On Saturday and Sunday. Visit the website or call to check on holiday hours, as they are subject to change.
CDC Drops Nasal Flu Vaccine
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has decided the nasal flu vaccine will not be used this year. The American Academy of Pediatrics agrees with that decision, even though the nasal spray vaccine is the favorite choice for many parents of younger children.
On June 22, the "CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) today voted that live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), also known as the 'nasal spray' flu vaccine, should not be used during the 2016-2017 flu season. ACIP continues to recommend annual flu vaccination, with either the inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) or recombinant influenza vaccine (RIV), for everyone six months and older."1
The reason for the change was that after looking at data, the CDC Advisory Committee concluded "the last two years the nasal vaccine was not as effective as the shots," said Barbara E. McDevitt, M.D., a pediatrician in the Pediatrics After Office program.
"People die from the flu, including children," she said, and urged parents to get the shot to "protect the children and babies." Children under the age of six months can't be given the shot, so if there is a new baby in the house, she recommended everyone in the household and those likely to visit the baby get a flu shot.
Resources:
1. "AAP Issues Flu Vaccine Recommendations for 2016-17 Season"
2. "ACIP votes down use of LAIV for 2016-2017 flu season,"
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$1 Million Donation Will Expand Montana Pediatrics' After-hours ...
The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation and Montana Pediatrics recently announced a two-year partnership to increase access to pediatric care for children, fueled by a $1 million investment.
The donation will expand Montana Pediatrics' after-hours telemedicine program. Montana Pediatrics CEO Dr. Chelsea Bodnar said the expansion means parents and guardians can avoid choosing between expensive urgent care or emergency room visits and their child's health.
"Our hope is that nobody feels alone in the middle of the night when trying to weigh the decision of what to do next when their child is sick or needs care," Bodnar said.
According to a release from the foundation and Montana Pediatrics, only 20 of Montana's 56 counties have a practicing pediatrician, and the distribution of providers is skewed to the more populated areas and the western half of the state. Children in rural communities commonly receive medical attention at small hospitals and emergency departments that can lack the resources or expertise in pediatric care, according to the two organizations.
The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation is a Missoula-based philanthropic organization with focuses on education, community service, arts and culture, and health and human services in the northwestern U.S. Funding for the foundation comes from personal contributions from the Washington family and annual contributions from The Washington Companies.
"Removing the financial and geographic barriers Montana families face is critical to the health and well-being of our youth," said Mike Halligan, the foundation's executive director. "This partnership will provide a healthier Montana future for all and we are proud to support Montana Pediatrics in providing high-quality pediatric telemedicine care for Montana children and families."
In 2020, Montana Pediatrics convened a small group of Montana-based pediatric providers to pilot a program where families could access a pediatric-specific alternative to urgent care from their homes. Now, more than 50% of Montana's practicing pediatric providers are part of its collaborative network and share on-call responsibilities to ensure pediatric care is available every evening, weekend and holiday.
Its after-hours telemedicine program is built to complement the care a child already receives and maintains a commitment to existing patient-provider relationships.
"For any family who accesses care from an after-hours visit, their primary care provider will have detailed notes from the visit by the next morning. We're fiercely committed to continuity of care. It doesn't matter who the child's provider is or how late at night we saw the child, we believe every provider should always be in the loop about their own patients," Bodnar said.
Thus far in 2023, Montana Pediatrics has served more than 150 families with after-hours care for needs like fevers, stomachaches, ear infections, respiratory infections, bumps, bruises, rashes and more.
With the additional funding from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Montana Pediatrics plans to focus on increasing after-hours care in communities where pediatric-specific care is sparse or non-existent. By the end of 2024, the organization hopes to serve children and families from all 56 counties.
Logan Health President and CEO Dr. Craig Lambrecht serves as chair of the Montana Pediatrics Board of Directors. He said it's well-known that access to health care can be challenging for rural families.
"This investment by The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation will not only help the organization expand its reach but truly impact the lives of children and families across Montana for generations to come," Lambrecht said.
To learn more about Montana Pediatrics or learn about accessing care, visit montanapediatrics.Org.
Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.Com.
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