Clinic Spotlight: Pediatrics
Physical therapy isn’t just for seniors or adults who have suffered an injury. Although adults indeed make up the majority of the number of physical therapy cases annually, it is equally important to recognize that children can also suffer from injury or developmental difficulties. To address this issue Burger opened our 12th outpatient clinic in 2001. Unlike our other clinics, however, this clinic was to be a specialty clinic devoted exclusively to the care of pediatric patients.
Recently Pediatrics has changed locations, moving from a separate building in Folsom, to occupy the second story of our Folsom outpatient clinic. This move has been in development for some time and we are very excited about our new location. The consolidation of services into one location has many benefits not the least of which is the versatility offered by having access to utilize the equipment offered by our adult outpatient clinic. This is especially valuable for our adolescent patients who are often more comfortable in a space where they can feel more grown-up.
Another perk of this location shift is the increased technical support for our pediatric telehealth options. Pediatric telehealth has become increasingly viable as a treatment option, especially with feeding and speech therapy. Therapists are noticing that younger children are more able to keep focused on the session when they are at home and surrounded by familiar settings and the benefits of being able to observe themselves on a video screen are helpful for visually showing kids how their mouth shapes affect pronunciation. The convenience of scheduling telehealth also allows for greater consistency in treatment as parents can potentially alleviate their need to find child care for siblings during an appointment.
Often the trick to fixing something to use the right tool for the job at hand. With the ability to utilize the adult clinic, and telehealth systems our toolbox for helping our pediatric patients has grown immensely.