We live in a fabulous world today where we can choose a specialty healthcare facility for children over individual facilities. These specialty facilities not only benefit the child(ren), but the entire family. I am talking healthcare facilities like the Hospital for Special Surgery. Facilities as such, have everything that is needed at your fingertips to care for your child’s special healthcare needs.
Let’s use my son as an example. He had brain surgery at three weeks of age to remove what they had no idea they were going in for. All that was known was the CT scan didn’t look normal and emergency surgery was scheduled for that night. After being in surgery for two hours, he severely hemorrhaged in the brain and the neurosurgeon had to close. The hemorrhaging left him with many medical issues – neuromotor issues, neurological issues, developmental issues, and more. That was back 28 1/2 yrs. ago.
Back then, there weren’t such facilities that catered to a child’s every need. Sure there were the Children’s Hospitals scattered throughout the country, and we did utilize our regional one, but they didn’t have all the services an infant like my son needed centralized within one hospital. All the areas of specialty that were in the hospitals were known as clinics. One brought their child to the designated specialty clinic to be seen by the specialist on a specific day. These were located in-state and out-of-state.
How nice it would have been to have all his healthcare needs met in one place. Appointments with different providers or therapists could have been scheduled back to back. Life for me as a parent would have been much easier. And since kids usually go with the flow, and pediatric facilities have waiting rooms geared towards children, kids have time to play to get out any unspent energy while waiting for their next appointment – so it’s really no big deal to them.
Had there been a facility like the Hospital for Special Surgery where orthopedics, rheumatology, neurology, and rehabilitation – a facility where specialized care for inpatient and outpatient treatment was all in one place, I would have welcomed this for my son’s treatment. I wouldn’t have had to drive here there and everywhere for his care. Nor would I have to have had therapists coming in and out of my home because they didn’t have a home base facility to bring my son to.
Today, parents can coordinate their children’s care so that life is easier for them, and I urge every parent to do so, if able to. It’s hard up-dating every doctor on every little detail. Bigger facilities usually have it so that other doctors within the same facility have access to all the medical records on file within that facility – thanks to technology.
A milestone for HSS is their recent opening of the CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center at the Children’s Pavilion. The rehab center is geared towards individualized rehabilitation treatment from birth to 21 years of age. We didn’t have such a place to go to. Therapists came to the home, as I said earlier. More often than not, we had to purchase our own physical therapy equipment should us parents desire to carry out the therapy at home, since visits weren’t very frequent.
When it comes to selecting a specialty hospital for your child – the most important thing is for parents to be informed. You wouldn’t want anything less for your child(ren) than you would for yourselves. You are your child’s strongest advocate. Parents also need convenience. Life is way too stressful as it is and when you add a child that has special healthcare needs to the equation – it can be extremely overwhelming.
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“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Hospital for Special Surgery. A small donation to a charity of my choice was made in my name as a thank you for participating. You should consult with your physician or other health care provider before beginning any rehabilitation/therapy, sports training, or exercise program.”