Page 6 - Christiana Care Focus October 2018

Cover Story | CenterforSpecialHealthCareNeeds C O N T I N U E D
Easing the worry, emphasizing dignity
“Easing the worry of the whole family is part of the center’s mission,” said Dr. Wright. “We aim for a smooth transition between pediatric and adult care with both primary care and specialty programs,” she said. "We reduce stress on families with care that
is accessible and convenient, and we also connect patients and families with resources in the community that can improve their
Tquality of life.”
he center places great emphasis on treating patients with dignity. Ann Phillips found a medical home at the center for her son Aaron Deede, who has paraplegia and traumatic brain injuries. She was impressed that instead
of simply asking her to describe his condition, the health care team “examined him and talked to him — like the adult that he is,” she said. “Because he feels that respect, he wants to do better.”
Both Ann and Aaron benefited from the center’s team approach, which included everything from helping the family order medical supplies to teaching Aaron how to read nutrition labels.
“They help me to keep my son healthy,” she said.
Comprehensive primary care
Comprehensive primary care is at the core of what the center offers, Dr. Wright said. Regular preventive care, treatment of illness and injuries, routine management of chronic conditions, and, when needed, referral to specialists helps a patient and family navigate the wider world of health care.
“By being a steward of resources and understanding the complex needs of a person with special health care needs, the primary care clinician is uniquely poised to help that person utilize health care appropriately,” said Dr. Wright.
“By being a steward of resources and understanding the complex needs of a person with special health care needs, the primary care clinician is uniquely poised to help that person utilize health care appropriately.
Charmaine Wright, M.D.
Even though aging beyond pediatric health care can present a lot of worry, for patients with complex conditions, the transition to adult medicine also affords an opportunity to be more actively engaged with their own care while managing fear and anxiety.
The entire team at the center focuses on helping patients to become partners in their own care so they can lead the healthiest lives possible — and, crucially, avoid unnecessary hospital visits.
Sickle cell center relieves crises in pain
The center recently further expanded its capacity for primary care with clinics for sickle cell disease, cerebral palsy and complex urology care. It also added leading-edge technology to coordinate each patient’s health care services to provide the most efficient and effective screening, diagnosis and monitoring.
Until recently, “there has been little
to offer adults with sickle cell disease
transitioning from pediatric care,” said pediatric hematologist and internist Stephanie Guarino, M.D. Throughout the state, “adult hematologists don’t have the resources to provide care to all the patients," which she estimates to number in the hundreds in Delaware.
Dr. Guarino has been an advocate for continued improvement
in transitional care since entering Christiana Care's nationally recognized dual medicine-pediatrics residency program nearly a decade ago. Today she is in a unique position to observe and treat patients before and after they leave the hematology program at Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and after they start receiving care at Christiana Care.
4 CHRISTIANA CARE HEALTH SYSTEM
at Aaron’s new medical home, Christiana Care’s Center for Special Health Care Needs.
Stephanie Guarino, M.D.
Ann Phillips, Charmaine Wright, M.D., and Aaron Deede