Pediatric emergency department receives prestigious recognition

The Makenna David Pediatric Emergency Center, one of the only dedicated children’s emergency centers in the state and the only one serving Central and Eastern Kentucky, has been named a Pediatric Ready Emergency Department by the Kentucky Emergency Medical Services for Children (KYEMSC) Program.

UK HealthCare participated in the 2013 National Pediatric Readiness Project, a national benchmarking study of hospital readiness to care for children, with very high marks, but the study demonstrated wide disparities in pediatric readiness among Kentucky emergency departments.

The KYEMSC program, a federal state partnership program funded through Health Resources and Services Administration, works on improving pediatric emergency care across the state by focusing on emergency departments and EMS agencies to ensure that they are prepared to take care of children.

"Because when a parent or caregiver has a sick or injured child in their arms, they don’t drive past the big red emergency sign," said Morgan Scaggs, KYEMSC Project Director. "They don’t necessarily understand whether that hospital is a trauma center, a stroke center or a children’s hospital. They know that’s where they can get help for their sick or injured child."

Dr. Landon Jones, medical director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and Dr. Katelyn Yackey, also in the Pediatric Emergency Medicine department, played key roles in making sure that their department has the appropriate equipment, policies and procedures in place so that they are ready for any situation. Patricia K. Howard, Enterprise Director for Emergency Services, and Dixie Bryant, a patient care manager in Emergency Services, as well as Drs. Scottie Day, John Draus, Michael Wittkamp and Craig Carter, along with nursing staff, have also been heavily involved in the process of turning the Makenna David Pediatric Emergency Center into a pediatric ready emergency department.