CHILDREN’S HEALTH CARE
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Treasure Coast Medical Report
Registered nurse Melissa Nickerson tends an infant in Lawnwood’s neonatal
intensive care unit.
“As a parent, I know I need to feel comfortable and trust in
our medical community,” he said. “The safety of my boys is
always a concern as they grow. To hear some of the parents
tell their stories can just bring tears to your eyes.”
WHOLE PACKAGE OF SERVICES
Lawnwood has the whole package of children’s services,
from newborns to adolescents. “Most hospitals don’t have all
these pediatric specialists,” Lowe said.
Mothers, like Katie Johansen, can deliver their babies at
Lawnwood, knowing that if there are any problems there is
a level two neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), plus a level
three NICU that can handle extremely high risk newborns.
While there is another level two in St. Lucie County, there
is no other level three in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River or
Okeechobee counties. Before Lawnwood’s level three opened
in December 2013, the closest options were hospitals in West
Palm Beach or Orlando.
“When our emergency room for children opened, we
hired a whole team — physicians, physician assistant, nurse
practitioner,” Lowe said. “We’re always assessing our needs
and planning ahead for growth. We’re also always looking
to recruit those pediatric specialists who help us to put the
patient first.”
SPECIAL PATIENTS
Dr. Julia Retureta, assistant medical director of the pediatric
emergency room, said the doctors and nurses who staff
a pediatric ER must be specially trained. “Children are not
little adults,” she said. “They can have different diseases
from adults, or diseases present differently from the way they
present in adults. Doses of medicine are different, equipment
sizes are different. Pediatrics is its own little world.”
Retureta said she knew she wanted to go into pediatrics
when she was still in high school. Children are special, she
said. “No disease they have is their fault. They are trusting,
they are just the best. There is nothing like a pediatric patient.
When an intervention is successful, I think to myself that this
patient is why I was here today.”
Word of the emergency department for children has spread
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