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Brandon Regional, All Children's Hospital team on neonatal care

 
Brandon Regional CEO Bland Eng says All Children’s is a leader in the field of neonatal care.
Brandon Regional CEO Bland Eng says All Children’s is a leader in the field of neonatal care.
Published Sept. 26, 2014

BRANDON — Driving through the crowded highways of Tampa and across the Howard Frankland Bridge to St. Petersburg almost surely would add to the stress of parents seeking care for a newborn in need of neonatal care at All Children's Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine.

However, that arduous drive has become less likely for SouthShore and Brandon residents now that Brandon Regional Hospital has formed a partnership with All Children's Specialty Physicians. Neonatologists and maternal-fetal medicine physicians from All Children's will be on staff at Brandon Regional and work with the hospital to increase the care provided to newborns and high-risk expectant mothers.

"We're really excited because we offer a Level III NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and we recently had the opportunity to partner with their neonatalogists," Brandon Regional CEO Bland Eng said Wednesday. "Now, at least one of the neonatalogists who take care of the sick babies at All Children's will be in house at Brandon Regional 24 hours of the day, 365 or 366 days a year.

"That's really important because when moms deliver, it's never 9-5."

Eng noted that All Children's stands as a national leader in neonatal and pediatric care. Those doctors will not only bring that advanced level of experience to Brandon Regional, but they will help the staff to become more knowledgeable in the latest neonatal procedures and practices.

For example, nurses are being trained on the placement of PICC lines (peripheral inserted central catheters) in the neonatal unit, and All Children's Hospital will implement telehealth for educational purposes in the NICU.

"We offer a more involved, family-centered care and team approach," said Dr. Francisco Ojeda, a neonatologist with All Children's Specialty Physicians. "Parents are involved in the care and the decision-making, and are with the physician when the physician rounds on their baby."

Eng said the partnership strengthens the care in the Level III unit, the highest available, but also augments the service offered in Brandon's Pediatric ER and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

"We've already received many, many compliments from mothers who have delivered premature or sick babies," Eng said. "We're ecstatic about the relationship."

Eng added that if a need arises that requires a high level of care, such as an "exotic, open-heart surgery," the child still can be transferred to All Children's and now a continuum of care will exist.

This may be just the beginning for the partnership, Eng said. The two hospitals are exploring the possibility of expanding the relationship so they can collaborate in other areas such as pediatric surgeries.

Contact Ernest Hooper at ehooper@tampabay.com. Follow @hoop4you.