WakeMed Celebrates 10 Years of Caring in the Children's Emergency Department
WakeMed Celebrates 10 Years of Caring in the Children�s Emergency Department
RALEIGH, N.C. (July 12, 2007) � Today, WakeMed Health & Hospitals celebrated 10 years of caring for kids in North Carolina�s first freestanding Children�s Emergency Department.
Since the WakeMed Children�s Emergency Department grand opening in summer 1997, the department has served tens of thousands of North Carolina�s youngest patients. When it opened, the Children�s Emergency Department was the only freestanding emergency department from Atlanta to Washington DC dedicated solely to caring for children ages 0 to 17 years.
The WakeMed Children�s Emergency Department is a great asset to the community,� commented Jerry Bernstein, MD, pediatrician with Raleigh Pediatric Associates who took a leadership role in the creation of the Children�s Emergency Department. Prior to the WakeMed Children�s Emergency Department there was a gap in children�s health care that needed to be filled. Children were receiving emergency care in the Adult Emergency Department, which can be a very scary place especially for children. The Children�s Emergency Department brings together the best environment, the right equipment and specially trained staff to provide children with the absolute best care possible.�
Dr. Bernstein and the recently-deceased emergency department physician Marilyn Hicks were the doctors who jointly spearheaded the project with the support from hospital and emergency department administration. The 10-year milestone was observed today by dedicating a nursing station as the Dr. Marilyn Hicks Kids Care Area.� Wake Emergency Physicians that staff WakeMed�s emergency department and employed Dr. Hicks donated the money for the naming rights through the WakeMed Foundation.
In 2006, the department logged more than 42,500 visits, including 6,534 respiratory complaints; 7,332 cases of fever; 5,244 sprains, strains and fractures; and 5,480 stomach aches, nausea and/or abdominal pain.
The department opened with 9,905 square feet, 14 treatment rooms, a waiting room with kid-sized furniture, a sibling room, a private consultation room and two X-ray rooms featuring glow-in-the-dark underwater and solar system scenes. In 2003, the department was expanded to 22 treatment rooms.
Other kid-friendly features include; physicians and staff specially trained in both emergency medicine and pediatrics; Child Life Specialists to calm children during treatment; the Breezeway� � a breathing treatment room for asthmatics, featuring movies on a large screen; private treatment rooms decorated by kids for kids � all with kid-size equipment, televisions and videos; and a sibling playroom.
