Clinton, Mo. – (Oct. 15, 2019) – Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare (GVMH) is pleased to announce its partnership with Children’s Mercy Kansas City, one of America’s best children’s hospitals, to have access to neonatal intensive care specialists as needed. For the fifth straight year, Children's Mercy was named one of America's best children's hospitals, ranking in all 10 pediatric specialties according to U.S. News and World Report.
The advanced telemedicine technology has an audio-visual connection that allows GVMH providers to connect via one of its five telemedicine robots with a Children’s Mercy neonatologist to examine infants in real-time, plan care with physicians and evaluate the need for transfer. Children's Mercy Critical Care Transport is the only 24/7 transport program in the region dedicated exclusively to neonates, children and adolescents.
“GVMH delivers more than 380 babies each year and this is an outstanding addition to our Birthing Center as we continue to expand our facilities and services to meet the needs of our community and patients,” said Lynnette Hayes, BSN, RN chief nursing officer at GVMH.
Teleneonatology services help ensure what every parent desires, a safe delivery and healthy infant. However, if the birth proves difficult or the infant is in distress, it assures assistance to empower rural hospitals, such as GVMH, to provide life saving measures to critically ill babies. Other services telemedicine can provide include:
• Thorough patient assessments
• Consultations and assistance with diagnosis
• Review of x-rays and lab results
• Remote daily rounds, if needed
• Education and timely communication with parents
“We are excited to partner with Children’s Mercy to make this innovative service available to our community, provide this level of access to specialists and make more accurate diagnoses for our littlest of patients,” said Wendy Bolinger, MBA, BSN, RN, director of the Birthing Center at GVMH. “Avoiding the need to transfer newborns to other facilities while keeping mothers and babies together is our goal.”
“Children’s Mercy is proud to partner with Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare,” said Steven Olsen, MD, interim division director, neonatology at Children’s Mercy. “This partnership will allow us to more effectively collaborate and determine the best care plan for babies needing a deeper level of care with the hopes to keep them close to home.”
To schedule a tour of the GVMH Birthing Center or to learn more, call 660.890.7360.
