Blythedale to Open New Pediatric Long Term Care Facility on 9/15/16

VALHALLA, N.Y. - Sept. 13, 2016 - PRLog -- On September 15th at 10:00 a.m., Blythedale Children's Hospital will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Pediatric Long Term Care Pavilion, a unique 24-bed, 17,000 square-foot facility dedicated to the highly specialized needs of infants and children who  require extended medical care and rehabilitation. This extraordinary program and facility, generously supported by a transformational gift from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, will set the national standard for the way care should be delivered to these children.

The opening of the Pavilion addresses a desperate need for facilities specializing in pediatric long-term care. Due to a severe shortage of beds in New York, these children often are sent to pediatric nursing homes in Albany or New Jersey, placing an enormous emotional and financial burden on their families. Blythedale, as the only specialty children's hospital in New York State, has several decades of experience caring for the medically fragile child.  However, each year there are many children who, for a variety of medical and social reasons, cannot go home following acute care and/or acute rehabilitative care and require placement in a long term care facility. With the opening of Blythedale's new unit, these children and their families will benefit greatly from access to a facility closer to home, and a specialized staff equipped with the experience and technical expertise to manage the increasing complexity of these children.

The Pavilion will serve patients up to age 19, with a projected length of stay of one year. The Unit will serve the following types of patients:

• Patients who require a longer period of time to be weaned from the ventilator,

• Traumatic brain injury patients with ongoing medical, therapy and behavioral needs; and

• · Other medically complex patients, such as premature infants with feeding difficulties, congenital conditions or neurological disorders, whose families are currently unable to bring the child home.

The unit will be staffed by a full-time pediatrician who will work in consultation with a variety of pediatric subspecialists including pediatric pulmonology, pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation, pediatric neurology, and pediatric gastroenterology.  The comprehensive team will also include nurses, respiratory therapists, physical/occupational/speech therapists, psychologists, child life specialists, recreational therapists, and social workers.

Features of the new unit include 11 double-bedded rooms and two private rooms, all with piped-in oxygen, a spacious dining and recreation area, dedicated therapy space, an infant play room and teen lounge. An attractive courtyard includes play areas, walking paths and sitting areas for residents and their families.

Children in the Pediatric Long Term Care Unit will have access to education (through the on-site Mt. Pleasant-Blythedale School and Early Childhood Center), and recreational programming on evenings, weekends and holidays.

Family involvement is a key component of care at Blythedale, and progress toward goals (established upon admission) will be reviewed during periodic family conferences. An interdisciplinary approach to treatment is a hallmark of Blythedale, and each patient's clinical care team will meet every two weeks to discuss the individualized plan from every perspective: medical, social, psychological and educational.

About Blythedale Children's Hospital

As New York's only freestanding, specialty children's hospital, Blythedale is dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of children with medical complexity, not only through superb multi-disciplinary patient care, but also through teaching, research, and advocacy programs.  Blythedale's board-certified physicians, nurses, and other clinical staff (social workers, respiratory therapists, clinical pharmacists, Child Life specialists, etc.) and New York State's largest hospital-based pediatric therapy department work together to provide intensive and innovative multi-disciplinary clinical and therapeutic care to help children achieve their medical and rehabilitative goals for independent living, and return to their communities. Blythedale is also the only Hospital in New York State with its own, on-site  public school district. For more information about Blythedale Children's Hospital, visit www.blythedale.org.