COMMITMENT | to patients and the future
that Temple’s size makes McLane
Children’s unique among the roughly
250 children’s hospitals in the United
States. “We are arguably the smallest
community in the country to have our
own children’s hospital,” she says.
Also contributing to the hospital’s
excellent reputation is its status as
an academic center affiliated with the
Texas A&M Health Science Center
College of Medicine, Dr. Beeram says.
“We have a huge group of residents—
future pediatricians—training here,”
he says, adding that McLane Children’s
also offers fellowships to train pediatric
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RESIDENTS AND FELLOWS
specialists. “To have that level of
training, you have to have the highest
level of care.” McLane Children’s
currently has 27 residents and fellows.
McLane Children’s offers 40
pediatric medical and surgical specialties
and support services, including
gastroenterology,
ophthalmology,
urology, and orthopedic surgery. “We
never thought we’d provide this spectrum
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THE CATALYST May 15 | sw.org
of services in the first three years,” says
Dr. Beeram. According to Dr. Boyd, the
hospital can now meet the healthcare
needs of 99 percent of its young patients,
with the exception of those who require
cardiothoracic surgery.
Pediatric specialists’ offices are in
a new, five-story clinic, adjacent to
the hospital, that opened in February
2014, making care easier for families
because it’s available on one campus.
Meeting families
where they live
About 300,000 children live in the
eight counties served by McLane
Children’s Hospital and clinics,
covering a 30,000-square-mile area
between Dallas and Austin. To better
serve those children and their families,
McLane Children’s has opened six
clinics since 2011, for a total of 13.
An expansive pediatric specialty clinic
presence—with some locations that
have been in place for many years—
supports families’ needs to have
their children receive follow-up and
preventive care outside the hospital
setting and near their homes. Pediatric
specialists deliver important outpatient
care services at a network of facilities
in Central Texas, including Waco,
Killeen, Round Rock, Georgetown,
College Station, and more.
When specialists visit clinics in the
more distant areas, families outside
of Temple have even easier access to
pediatric expertise. Dr. Boyd says, “Our
pediatric specialists see patients at these
clinics, because it’s always better to get
your care as close to home as possible.”
And it’s best to work closely with local
pediatricians’ offices, often seen as a
pediatric patient’s “medical home.”
Partnership with
pediatricians
Collaboration with community
pediatricians is one of the most
significant aspects of the McLane
Children’s model of care, because
these physicians are parents’ primary
point of contact for their child’s care.
“[Having] pediatric specialists on-site
saves families a huge amount of extra
trips and headaches,” says Daniel
Ransom, MD, section chief of the
Department of Pediatrics at the Scott
& White Clinic in College Station.
Bradley Berg, MD, PhD, division
director of pediatrics fo ȁ5