PeaceHealth has opened a dedicated pediatric unit in Bellingham, expanding its care for Whatcom County families.
The Pediatric Care Unit opened in February at St. Joseph hospital and has four dedicated rooms and seven beds for children ages 0-17 years old, as well as two rooms for overflow patients, according to a news release from PeaceHealth.
Before the pediatric unit opened, PeaceHealth could not offer the level of care that neighboring hospitals could.
“We’ve seen about 100 pediatric patients over the last year, and have transferred about a dozen on to Seattle Children’s for a higher level of care than we can provide,” Barbara Pongracz Lamb, communications specialist for PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
“Before our pediatric unit opened in February, we took care of children throughout the hospital. Our dedicated unit allows us to focus our care with a specific space geared for children and also with nursing staff trained to care for the pediatric population,” Lamb wrote.
The new unit will also have staff trained to care for children specifically and works closely with Seattle Children’s Hospital as the primary hub for pediatric care north of Everett.
“In addition to the specially trained, board-certified hospitalists, all the nurses who work on the unit are specifically trained to care for children of all ages. These providers coordinate care with other specialists, pediatricians, and primary care providers,” the news...
Federal authorities say a California vascular practice and its physician agree to pay more than $6.73 million to resolve allegations that unnecessary interventional procedures were billed to Medic...