When your child needs to be admitted to the hospital, you
want to have the peace of mind that he or she will receive the same loving,
compassionate care that you would deliver at home. At Mary Washington Hospital
and Stafford Hospital, a dedicated team of pediatric caregivers come to work
every day to do just that.
Mary Washington Hospital is home to the Fredericksburg region’s
only hospital pediatric unit. This 10-bed inpatient unit is staffed 24/7 by
Mary Washington Healthcare’s OB/GYN physicians and a team of pediatric
hospitalists from Children’s National Hospital, as well as an all-RN nursing
staff certified in pediatric advanced life support (PALS). The team provides
care for children from birth to age 18.
Access a Nationally Ranked Pediatric Program without
leaving Fredericksburg
For more than a decade, Mary Washington Healthcare has
partnered with Children’s National Hospital, ranked one of the top 10 pediatric
hospitals in the nation by U.S News & World Report, to bring specialty
pediatric care to two area hospitals.
“We have a dedicated
team of physicians from Children’s National Hospital and nurses who are trained
in pediatrics, who are eager and skilled to take care of the children admitted
to our hospital,” says Dr. Lana Ismail, MD, Pediatric Hospitalist with Children’s National Hospital and Medical
Director of the Children’s National Pediatric Hospitalist Program at Mary
Washington Healthcare.
Pediatric hospitalists are board-certified pediatric
physicians who care for children from infancy to adolescence in the hospital.
Children’s National pediatric hospitalists are available on-site 24/7 at both
Mary Washington Hospital and Stafford Hospital. Children who come to either of
Mary Washington Healthcare’s free-standing emergency departments (located at
Lee’s Hill and Harrison Crossing) can also access the Children’s National
physicians through telemedicine consultations without having to move to another
site for care.
This partnership helps keep children and parents from having
to receive care far from home. Six subspecialists now offer telemedicine
consults in areas including infectious disease, hematology-oncology,
gastroenterology, urology, nephrology and endocrinology.
“Our hematologist-oncologist tries to keep as many children
as possible in the area who need transfusions or medications,” says Dr. Ismail.
“It’s been really great to work with them and to be able to keep caring for
these children here and not have to send them away.”
In cases where children need to move to a larger children’s
hospital to receive the care they need, the staff at Mary Washington Healthcare
works closely with families so that they know what to expect, and also takes
into account family preferences on which children’s hospital might work best
for that family.
Family-Centered Care
Pediatrics at Mary Washington Hospital is part of the
larger Women’s and Children’s Care Center, and its approach to pediatric
hospital care is part of a broader focus on family-centered care throughout the
journey of pregnancy, birth and childhood, says RiDonna Walker, MSN, RNC-MNN, Nurse Manager for Mother
Baby & Pediatrics.
“We start when you have your baby, and then if your baby
needs support from our Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Mary
Washington Hospital, we can support that. If your child needs to be admitted
after they are born here at the hospital, we have our pediatric unit to support
that. You will find a similar team of nurses and a similar leadership team that
is here to care for you and your baby as a family,” Walker says.
Ann Weed, MSN, NE-BC, RNC-OB, Director of Women’s
Services for Mary Washington Healthcare, adds that the nursing staff that
supports Women’s and Children’s Care at Mary Washington is highly experienced,
and the longevity of the nurses on staff shows the commitment of this local
team to providing expert, compassionate care to area children.
“We use a team approach to caring—it’s not just one
person. Our entire team works to ensure these children are cared for,” Walker
says. “The majority of us have children with other diagnoses who have been
admitted to our pediatric unit. I always tell people I’ve been to Children’s
National, I’ve been to VCU, and I trust our providers 100% to where I would
want my child readmitted here.”
Weed says the staff’s focus on serving the local
community gives the Mary Washington Hospital pediatric unit a family
atmosphere.
“I feel like we’ve taken care of each other’s
children,” Weed says. “We treat people like family. I see it very often.
Parents will pop out of the rooms and just chat with the nurses. They feel very
comfortable with the care team, and I think people feel like they’re in their
community, and that they’re with people who really care.”
Walker says that just a few weeks ago, two parents who
had had multiple children admitted to the Pediatric Unit remembered her and
other members of the care team from another one of their children’s hospital
visits five years ago.
“They were able to meet and grow relationships with our
nurses and remember them by name,” Walker said. “They said, ‘We wouldn’t have
preferred our child to go anywhere else,’ because they are confident in the
care we provide. It just speaks to our family-centered approach, and how we
build those relationships with patients.”
To learn more, visit tinyurl.com/MWHC-pediatrics.
