Tags: Children's Hospital | Perseverence

This week, it's about our Children's Hospital...

DID YOU KNOW??

Did you know that I have written about and wished for a real Children's Hospital for more than twenty years?

I grew up in Pittsburgh where the Children's Hospital provides pretty much all of the inpatient and subspecialty care a child could ever need. They have famous researchers, cutting edge technology, the best surgeons and experts in every kind of pediatric healthcare. I trained to be a doctor here in Richmond, so I am familiar with how things are done here, too.

It is one of the more difficult parts of my work to do without a centralized center of pediatric excellence in Richmond. We have three separate hospital systems, and sadly...the best pediatric nurses work in one hospital while the top radiology techs work in another.

Research is done in multiple,fragmented sites; resources are duplicated, and pediatric subspecialists have to waste precious time driving all over town to make hospital rounds. Sick children are also driven in ambulances across town when one hospital isn't able to provide the needed inpatient services. Foolishness.

Our kids deserve better. My kids and my patients deserve a full service, free standing Children's Hospital.

Did you know a hundred pediatricians have gotten together to catalyze this needed change? Change For A New Children's Hospital. That's what I'm collecting. That's what these pediatricians are working on; and as our voices come together, it's clear that the first step is to educate the people who most need to understand how healthcare is provided to children in RVA. It's you. It's a new day, and the message is simple:

DID YOU KNOW?