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Walnut Creek, Calif. and Stanford, Calif. (October 8, 2012) – John Muir Health and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford have announced that they are partnering to provide access to comprehensive children’s specialty services for families in Contra Costa County and surrounding communities.
“We are partnering with Packard Children’s in response to requests from families and general pediatricians to enhance and expand the availability of children’s specialty services in our community so families may access and receive the care they need close to home,” said Jane Willemsen, president and CAO of John Muir Health’s Walnut Creek medical center. “This will build on our already strong foundation of pediatric care and enable us to offer the most comprehensive children’s services of any health system locally, services that we would not be able to offer on our own.”
John Muir Health and Packard Children’s began a successful partnership in urology and a growing number of surgical and medical services in 2011. The collaboration will now expand to include outpatient, inpatient, neonatal and emergency care, which will enable children with conditions ranging from allergies or bedwetting to more complex illnesses to see LPCH specialists locally through John Muir Health.
Many of the patients with complex cases will be treated through the new 16-bed pediatric complex care unit John Muir Health opened in 2011 in Walnut Creek, which includes private rooms. Additionally, the new facility has a 35-bed state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the only Level III-B NICU in Contra Costa County.
“A partnership of this type provides a tremendous benefit for children and families in the John Muir Health region,” said Christopher G. Dawes, president and CEO at Packard Children’s, the only Bay Area children’s hospital with care programs ranked in the nation’s top 10. “Increasing access and convenience to both of our hospitals’ world-class care will have a major impact in the communities John Muir Health serves.”
“Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford is a desirable partner due to their clinical excellence and national reputation for providing high-quality care. They are able to recruit and retain sought-after specialists who are in very short supply locally and nationally,” added Willemsen. “For families with children needing specialty care, this partnership can offer more convenience by easing travel burdens and time away from school and work.”
Added Dawes, “Packard Children’s has long been committed to successful community partnerships with Bay Area health care providers. We have always known that expanding local access to pediatric specialized care is an important way to serve the needs of the region’s children.”
That region includes patients from throughout Northern California, including Modesto, Stockton and Tracy, who already receive high quality care and exceptional service from John Muir Health and will benefit even further through this new collaboration.
“John Muir Health has long provided children’s services to families in Contra Costa County, and this partnership allows us to significantly expand the services available to the community and benefit our patients for years to come,” said Robert Kadas, M.D., chair of the Pediatrics Department at John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek. “We will be able to offer a more complete continuum of care for our young patients ranging from routine to complex medical care. At a time when many health systems are reducing their inpatient and outpatient children’s services, we will be expanding our services to help meet the needs of children in our community.”