Frances Su, M.D., a neonatologist at Providence Tarzana Medical Center, at left, with Neonatologists Steven W. Chin, M.D., and Philippe S. Friedlich, M.D., of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
When Kelli Brodie’s son Conrad was born March 30 at Providence Tarzana Medical Center, Conrad didn’t get to stay at the hospital for long. The infant was born with an intestinal defect and had to be immediately transported to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles – almost 20 miles away – for lifesaving specialty care.
There is no children’s hospital in the area served by Providence Tarzana pediatrics – a region of nearly 3 million people that includes the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Conejo valleys and Simi Valley and is roughly the population of Chicago.
“As a new mother, it was a little traumatic,” says Brodie, a television news executive. “I couldn’t be with him, but I knew he was in the right hands.” Under a new agreement between Providence Tarzana Center CHLA, the type of care Conrad and other children might need will move much closer to home.
Beginning July 1, CHLA’s specialists will staff Providence Tarzana’s Pediatrics Department inpatient unit and pediatric and neonatal intensive care units 24 hours a day, a welcome piece of L.A. hospital news for Valley familie.
“Our new partnership is an important step forward that will bring a new level of quality care for our patients and their families,” says Dale Surowitz, Providence Tarzana’s chief executive. “This is a breakthrough in healthcare for the San Fernando Valley and adjacent communities, providing infants and children in-house specialist care round-the-clock.”
“It is an honor for us to be able to partner with Providence Tarzana Medical Center to ensure children have access to a winning team so close to home,” says Richard D. Cordova, FACHE, president and chief executive officer of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “For Valley families, this will mean they will have access to a new level of inpatient care for their children right in their own backyard.”
Additional hospitalists, intensivists and neonatologists will be in the hospital 24/7, providing ’round-the-clock care for patients. This partnership began in 2013 and until now has focused on hospital staff training and education. With this new development, children will receive a higher level of care during all inpatient hospital stays at Providence Tarzana.
The Providence Tarzana Emergency Department and those at its sister hospitals, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, are certified to provide pediatric care. If necessary, young emergency patients arriving at Saint Joseph and Holy Cross may be transported to Tarzana, a designated Pediatrics Medical Center, in a specially equipped family-friendly ambulance for inpatient care.
