Providence St. Mary Medical Center launched a new telemedicine program with the goal of ensuring that care teams for young patients include specialized consultants. Specifically, the program provides specialized caregivers, such as telemedicine neonatologists and pediatric intensivists, for children and infants during medical emergencies. Providence St. Mary’s program is intended to be a pilot site and is designed to eventually be scaled up for use by other hospitals and health systems.
Walla Walla, where Providence St. Mary is located, is too small to consistently sustain specialized staff. However, in the instance of a medical emergency, especially when a transfer to a larger hospital is inaccessible or not feasible, children and infants still need to be able to access critical care. The new telemedicine program connects Providence St. Mary 24/7 with specialists at Providence Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital and Spokane-based MEDNAX.
“This supports the care the child needs,” Providence St. Mary Chief Medical Officer Dr. Christopher Hall said. “It also supports the pediatricians here. The pediatricians in Walla Walla operate at a very high level, but there are very complex, sometimes rare, conditions that require specialists, such as a baby born with an unusual abnormality.”
Learn more about Providence St. Mary Medical Center’s telemedicine program online.
