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.