JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 For over 30 years, Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital and Nemours Children\u2019s Health have operated as a lifeline for Florida families. Starting March 1, that partnership is growing stronger to ensure local children never have to travel far for medical care. <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n The expanded partnership aims to create a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for families by adding eight inpatient and ambulatory specialties:<\/p>\n Neonatology and newborn nursery services in Wolfson Children\u2019s Neonatal\u00a0Intensive Care Units (NICU) and Baptist Health\u2019s Labor & Delivery units\u00a0 Critical Care Medicine in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)\u00a0 Neurosurgery\u00a0 Infectious Diseases\u00a0 Rheumatology\u00a0 Nephrology\u00a0 Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation\u00a0<\/p>\n For patients like Ryleigh Walker, who was rushed into open-heart surgery at birth due to a rare heart defect when she was born, the collaboration is quite literally life-saving. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re keeping Ryleigh alive, so we appreciate that,\u201d said her father, Craig Walker. <\/p>\n As Jacksonville\u2019s population surges, the demand for specialized pediatric care has increased. To meet this need, Nemours Children\u2019s Health is bringing in approximately 60 physicians and 70 practice providers to bolster the expansion in services positions they started looking for over 9 months ago. <\/p>\n \u201cThis allows us to provide much more of a seamless care from the inpatient and outpatient environments and keep kids\u2019 care local,\u201d explained Aaron Carpenter, North Florida President for Nemours Children\u2019s Health. As they know, the partnership will remain for years to come. <\/p>\n While the scale of service is increasing, leadership emphasizes that the patient experience will remain familiar. Allegra C. Jaros, President of Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital, noted that families won\u2019t see a disruption in care\u2014only an increase in options. <\/p>\n \u201cOur patients now have more choice,\u201d Jaros said. \u201cThey will have more services to access within the Nemours center.\u201d <\/p>\n The expansion officially kicks off next month.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n