Here’s a story about how the healthcare needs of children in Houston who have been displaced by Katrina are being met. It’s highly visual. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s “Coach for Kids,” a mobile medical clinic, is in Houston today, and is providing comprehensive and much-needed urgent care services for children.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's COACH for KIDS, a mobile medical unit from Los Angeles that provides primary healthcare services for children is providing urgent care, vaccinations, first aid, play therapy and more for children in Houston who have been displaced by Katrina. The “COACH” is staffed by a team of eight pediatric and emergency nurses and nurse practitioners, as well as by mental health professionals and the Medical Director of COACH for KIDS, Abhay Dandekar, M.D., a Cedars-Sinai pediatrician.
COACH medical services include: urgent care; first aid; childhood disease immunizations; well-child care; assistance in obtaining medications for children with chronic illnesses such as asthma; hemoglobin tests; school immunizations and physicals; mental health (play therapy for the kids); antibiotics; tetanus vaccines; and more. Although the COACH is primarily designed and equipped to meet the healthcare needs of children, while in Houston, it is also triaging adults for care. In addition, the COACH is distributing clothing, baby diapers, formula and more on an as-needed basis.
Cedars-Sinai is working closely with the City of Houston Mayor's Office, Houston Department of Health, and the University of Texas, which are spearheading relief efforts in that state. Because of its mobility and the highly specialized experience of the COACH medical team, the unit has been asked to help care for some of the displaced children. An electronic fact sheet on the COACH program by clicking COACH .
No comments:
Post a Comment