Newswise — SEATTLE – (March 22, 2011) Seattle Children’s Hospital and MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital today announced the formation of a new 10-year collaboration that will expand pediatric specialty services in the Puget Sound region. Initially, the new partnership will focus on providing cardiac surgery services for infants and children. In the future, the two health care providers will look for more opportunities to work together on improving care for children.
The collaboration brings together expertise from existing cardiac surgery programs at both institutions and adds the services of surgeons from Seattle Children’s who will now also perform surgery at Mary Bridge. With this relationship, cardiac surgeons will share protocols and educational opportunities and have the added support and benefit of being faculty members of the University of Washington School of Medicine. This affiliation will bring together the resources of two strong children’s hospitals to help ensure that the finest pediatric cardiac surgery practices are available to South Sound patients and their families.
“Patients in the South Sound will benefit from our new partnership with Mary Bridge that will bring cardiac surgery services to more children,” said Thomas Hansen, MD, CEO of Children’s. “We also look forward to exploring other collaborations that make sense for our two organizations to pursue in the future.”
The expanded services are expected to begin during summer 2011. Children’s and Mary Bridge estimate that cardiac surgeons will perform over 600 operations annually between the two institutions.
“We are pleased to be collaborating with Seattle Children’s, an organization that shares our dedication to caring for children,” said Diane Cecchettini, President and CEO of MultiCare Health System. “Together we will work to improve the health of the kids in our communities.”
About MultiCare Mary BridgeFounded in 1955, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital is the only pediatric hospital in southwest Washington dedicated to caring for children. Designated by the state as the Level II Pediatric Trauma Center for the region, Mary Bridge offers comprehensive resources and expertise for critically ill or injured children through its pediatric critical care transport teams and helipad, emergency department, pediatric intensive care, and medical-surgical units. Mary Bridge offers the region’s most advanced, full-service pediatric surgical center. With its family-centered care philosophy, Mary Bridge provides services and accommodations for families in a child-friendly environment.
About Seattle Children’s HospitalConsistently ranked as one of the best children’s hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Children’s serves as the pediatric and adolescent academic medical referral center for the largest landmass of any children’s hospital in the country (Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho). For more than 100 years, Children’s has been delivering superior patient care and advancing new treatments through pediatric research. Children’s serves as the primary teaching, clinical and research site for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. For more information visit http://www.seattlechildrens.org.
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