Children's Health Treatment Expands in WC

John Muir Health is expanding children's specialty services in a partnership with the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.

The two health institutions began a partnership in urology and surgical and medical services in 2011, according to a John Muir Health press release. The collaboration now expands 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 Packard specialists locally through John Muir Health.

Many 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. That's on the third floor of the new part of the medical center opened last year, the Tom and Billie Long Patient Care Tower. 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, according to John Muir Health.

From the John Muir press release:

“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 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...”