by Kate Willoughby Hall, Richmondmom.com Founder and lucky mom of three healthy Richmond kids including one big kid, shown here after his first 1-mile race.
my big boy and I after his first 1-mile kid's race at the Jack & Abby 5k
I was fortunate to be invited to the newly-launched Children’s Hospital of Richmond last week as they unveiled their official partnership with VCU Health System, announcing “A New Day” for healthcare in Richmond. I didn’t realize what an impact this experience would have on me, and wanted to share it with you, as I hope you’ll see how lucky we are to have this happen in the Richmond community.
Here are some of my learnings, as shared by the staff at Children’s:
1) This has been in talks for a long time; however discussions in the past required a large capital investment; this partnership is a more practical way to build on current expertise at Children’s and VCU under one umbrella.
2) There aren’t any immediate plans to build a new hospital, although both organizations are going to improve on their core services in all facilities (ten total including Richmond and Fredericksburg).
3) Specialty healthcare combined with a strong foundation of clinical and academic excellence creates a unique setting; there isn’t an organization in Richmond that provides that level of specialty care. Studies show that the country’s best children’s hospitals are either directly or indirectly tied to an academic institution because of opportunities for learning through research, education, clinical care.
4) By “specialty healthcare” there is a huge list of services this encompasses. From feeding to motion to physical therapy to dental care, these critical services help families from far outside of Richmond.
5) The children in the transitional care unit, which houses up to 47 children, stay an average of four years and require an extensive amount of care, equipment, support. Many of these children transition into adult, long-term care facilities. The physical and emotional care the staff provides for the families of these children appears to be incredible; the nurse who gave us our tour, Pat, has been with the hospital for years and knows her stuff. This is a bright, beautiful area that was renovated recently and is super-modern, complete with flat-screen tv’s and state-of-the-art medical technologies for children that need them.
6) One example of specialty services (see #6) is their feeding program. It is one of only a handful in the U.S. Families travel here from many states, stay for seven days, and both child and parent(s) work together with a team of specialists to help each child reach feeding goals. Parents watch their children on monitors during feeding sessions to review progress, and play in-between sessions.
7) The merger of these two facilities can only mean good things for staffing of skilled physicians in Richmond; more care means less travel for Richmond parents and more services right here where they’re needed.
The Children’s Hospital of Richmond is always in need of community help. Volunteers are often needed, and although summer volunteers have already been staffed there are always opportunities for more. They also need supplies for families (art supplies, etc) and ask that you coordinate with their recreation therapy department to find out specific needs, and of course cash is always in need and many Richmond children do fundraising in great programs like Anthem LemonAid to support the hospital.
9) There’s an amazing Children’s Hospital Calendar of Events that lists fundraisers and other events to support the hospital.
10) You can take a virtual tour of Children’s Hospital of Richmond anytime from your livingroom. I’d encourage you to check it out. Hopefully you’ll never need their services. But if any of us to, sure glad it’s here, and that two facilities are together working to make it better than ever.
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