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Nemours specialists will care for hospitalized children and serve families at The Children’s Center

Newborns and pediatric patients at Parrish Medical Center (PMC) are now receiving world-class in-hospital care from Nemours’ pediatric specialists.

Parrish Healthcare and Nemours Children’s Health System have formed a collaborative agreement to bring Nemours-employed pediatric specialists to Parrish Medical Center. The Nemours physicians provide in-hospital care to babies born at PMC as well as all other hospitalized pediatric patients. The Nemours physicians will stay in close communication with the families’ pediatrician and once released to go home, the pediatric specialists will continue to follow up with the families’ primary care provider.

"The relationship between PMC and Nemours gives parents great assurance about the quality of care their children receive in the hospital," said George Mikitarian, PMC president & CEO. "Nemours is a standard-setter for pediatric care, earning numerous awards for quality care, the safety of its patients, and patient and family experience."

"In those areas, Nemours and PMC have much in common," Mikitarian added. "This agreement promotes PMC’s mission of providing healing experiences for everyone all the time."

The PMC-Nemours relationship also speeds up the transfer of pediatric patients needing specialized care from PMC to Nemours Children’s Hospital in Lake Nona Medical City. Nemours Children’s Hospital opened in 2012 to provide pediatric care previously not available in this area.

"Nemours wants to bring our pediatric expertise closer to families and this new agreement with PMC is the perfect way to do that," said Martha McGill, chief of network operations for Nemours Children’s Health System in Florida. "In PMC we know we have an organization that shares our dedication to patient safety and delivering the highest quality care."

Nemours Children’s Specialty Care at The Children’s Center

Additionally, Nemours and PMC have established clinics for heart, lung, kidney and soon, allergy conditions at The Children’s Center. The Children’s Center, a service of Parrish Healthcare, is located at 5650 S. Washington Avenue (U.S. Highway 1) in Titusville.

It’s a one-stop childhood development resource center, providing an array of health, education and human services through many nonprofit community agencies for children of all ages and abilities and their families. Pediatric patients throughout the county with serious heart, lung and other risk conditions can now see Nemours pediatric specialists and subspecialists and other healthcare professionals at the center in Titusville. The PMC-Nemours relationship is the culmination of discussions between the organizations that began in early 2016. The present agreement was reached in a series of steps, said Edwin Loftin, PMC vice president of acute care services and chief nursing officer. "Through this arrangement, Nemours is a member of the fast growing Parrish Health Network of healthcare providers that through PMC achieved first-in-the-nation certification for integrated care," said Loftin. "This means Parrish Healthcare members are working together for pediatric patients in a proven way parents can trust."

The PMC-Nemours relationship has been welcomed and embraced by families and Parrish Health Network pediatricians, he added. "Our pediatricians saw this as a twofold advantage: first, they could spend more time at their offices serving patients and not have to be continually traveling to and from the hospital," he said. "They also are able to collaborate with Nemours specialists, and vice-versa." Dr. Ruth Rodriguez is one of the Nemours pediatric specialists at PMC. She said PMC’s healing environment and relationship with staff and PMC pediatricians all work together for pediatric patients and their families. "Nemours and PMC have the same philosophy, which is to improve outcomes through evidence-based best practices and work daily to increase the body of evidence and improve even the best of the best practices," Dr. Rodriguez said. "The beneficiaries are children and their families, and it’s a great privilege to be part of this program."

The relationship also gives PMC access to Nemours pediatric-focused patient education and professional continuing education. "PMC’s vision is healing families, healing communities" said Mikitarian.