The last place you want to be with your child is in an emergency department (ED). But if your child does require emergency care, there's no place you'd rather be than a pediatric ED, like the new one at K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital (KHCH).
Pediatric EDs offer benefits for kids not necessarily found at a traditional ED. For example, crowded adult EDs can involve long waits. They can be a frightening place for young patients.
West Long Branch resident Beth DiResta has seen the benefit of a pediatric ED firsthand. Her 3-year-old daughter, Isabella, has Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder that can cause seizures. Beth has been to several area EDs, both pediatric and traditional. "There's just no comparison. It's a whole different level of care in a pediatric emergency department," she says. "They're much mre familiar with how to deal with children and how to comfort parents."
The new pediatric ED at KHCH does just that. With its own lobby and triage areas, eight patient rooms, and a radiology and X-ray room within the department, the pediatric ED is completely separate from Jersey Shore University Medical Center's ED. "We have pediatric equipment geared toward children, such as cribs for toddlers and infants, along with IV and respiratory supplies specially designed to meet our children's needs," says Gail Temple, R.N., a nurse manager of the pediatric ED.
And the fact that pediatric specialists are actually in the ED is an added plus, Beth says. "A pediatrician is right there attending to your child as soon as you walk through the doors," she explains. "Other emergency departments do not have pediatricians on site. You have to wait for one to come down from the pediatric department."
In fact, all the doctors and staff memebers in the pediatric ED are specially trained to work with children, families, and caregivers. "We are equipped to handle any kind of emergency that comes through our doors," says Khoshnood Ahmad, M.D., medical director of the pediatric ED. "And we are a comprehensive children's hospital. So if a child needs to be admitted, we have all the specialty and subspecialty care right here."
For Beth, the high-level care at KHCH is matched only be the compassion and empathy the staff extends to children and parents alike. "It is important that parents have choices, and for us the choice will always be K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital," she says.
About the Doctor
Khoshnood Ahmad, M.D.
Board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Neptune | 732-776-4510
