Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Oct. 2, 2024 – St. Bernards Medical Center faculty and guests gathered on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the hospital’s newest designation and honor its pediatric emergency team.
The hospital announced in September that it had earned Arkansas’ first “Pediatric Ready” status for emergency care provided at non-pediatric hospitals, achieving “Gold Tier Recognition” from the Arkansas Department of Health.
St. Bernards Medical Center’s Emergency Department (ED) applied for and received the designation this summer through the Arkansas Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) State Partnership Program, which honors emergency departments and prehospital agencies, such as EMS, for caring for children and their unique health needs.
“Pediatric Ready” means an ED can provide high-quality care to pediatric patients. This includes having the proper tools, training and procedures.
St. Bernards Medical Center Administrator Michael Givens said on Wednesday that St. Bernards has continued to grow over the past several years to meet the needs of the community they serve.
“This is a great honor for our team, and it’s an exciting time,” Hill said on Wednesday. “Since 2022, we have seen growth in pediatric admissions to our ED to grow about 32%. So, we were looking at Pediatric Readiness and getting the status from the Arkansas Department of Health and the hospital association. And so, it was fortuitous when we got it,” said Vice President for Emergency Heart Care and Perioperative Service Connie Hill.
Givens said St. Bernards decided to seek the designation because it was the right thing to do.
“There are about 70 emergency rooms across the state of Arkansas. We are the only ones presently who have this designation and only nine others have applied. We hope to set the stage. We hope to set an example for emergency rooms across the state to go through this process to ensure that they’re pediatric-ready,” he said. “When you look at the need within the community over the last twelve months, we’ve seen an increase in emergency room and pediatric emergencies, several of those cases being trauma. We must be prepared to take care of any situation because time means everything in an emergency situation or a dramatic situation.”
St. Bernards Foundation volunteer services manager Pat Farmer also presented a $40,000 donation from the St. Bernards Women’s Council to the ED.
“Our goal is to provide services for women and children in our community,” she said. “So, when this fabulous team came to us and said that they had a need that would help with the pediatric portion of this… they presented it to our board, and I will say unanimously, we will be able to support this.”
St. Bernards Emergency Department Manager Katie Collier, who accepted the check, said the money will pay for a pediatric ventilator.
“This is a ventilator that can be used on children that are less than 6 kg all the way up to adult sizes because we have patients all the time that need to be transferred out and having this equipment will ensure that we can do that safely,” she said.
Kellie Tolliver, Arkansas Department of Health Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) program manager also spoke at the ceremony, after which she presented them with the official certificate announcing St. Bernard’s gold tier recognition for “Pediatric Ready” and a banner.
“It’s a great day to be a part of the Jonesboro community being “Pediatric Ready,” she stated. “Emergency Departments play a vital role in caring for children of all ages, so ensuring that pediatric readiness is in all emergency departments is a huge goal of mine and the Arkansas Department of Health.”
For more information about St. Bernards Medical Center, please visit stbernards.info, or call the St. Bernards Healthline at 870.207.7300.