If you have new information or tips on this issue or others, email Chris Persaud at CPersaud@PBPost.com
Options for pediatric care in Palm Beach County have taken another hit, with the recent announcement that Baptist Health South Florida will stop offering rehabilitative care for disabled children and infants at its Boynton Beach hospital, a separate medical center nearby and its offices in Wellington.
The news comes months after Jupiter Medical Center, another nonprofit operation, announced an end to its inpatient treatment for children in February.
Baptist mailed notices to parents alerting them that the services would end Aug. 21 at Bethesda Hospital East, Baptist Health City and offices in Wellington. A statement from the Baptist Health said it is helping patients’ families transition to other pediatric rehabilitation providers. Baptist did not say how many pediatric rehabilitation patients receive its care.
“Our team is making every effort to ensure that all existing appointments through August 21 remain unaffected. Our top priority is continuity of care, and we are working closely with anyone impacted by the change,” according to the statement.
The news blindsided Nicole Lee, grandmother to a seven-month-old boy born with clubfoot and a rare bone condition, arthrogryposis, which curves the spine, arms and legs, and stiffens joints. He needs help to eat, crawl and sit up straight, and will eventually to speak, Lee said.
Therapists at Bethesda East had been helping Lee’s grandson since he was three months old, Lee said. When she saw the letter from the hospital the boy’s deaf parents received Monday, she felt devastated.
“What it took to even get him into this program meant jumping through hoops with insurance companies and referrals and everything you need to do just to be seen,” Lee said. It took months, she said.
Baptist’s letter included a list of fewer than a dozen other therapists to try, Lee said. She has yet to go through the entire list, but said three do not accept her grandson’s Medicaid health insurance plan.
Baptist officials did not detail what prompted the closure.
“It’s just not that easy to take a child dealing with issues in their young lives and move them around to other therapists … then you’re having to have the child start over and relearn their relationship with their therapist,” Lee said. “It’s a really terrible thing that’s happening without a lot of notice.”
Baptist’s closures come about six months after the nonprofit Jupiter Medical Center in northern Palm Beach County closed its pediatric unit in February to expand maternity care.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: County hospital drops disabled children therapy, parents scrambling
Reporting by Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
