Shriners Hospital has a history in the city of Lexington. The one-time and long-time home of caring for children now has a new function. It’s one that covers a lot of medical ground.
Sitting way back off Richmond Road is a large structure that has cared for children of all ages since 1955. That first building was on almost 28 acres, formerly a part of the Henry Clay Estate. In 1988, a larger hospital was constructed in front of the original facility and that was Shriners Children’s Lexington until 2017. That’s when Shriners moved near the University of Kentucky on Conn Terrace.
And today it’s now Kentucky Children’s Richmond Road, officially recognized with a ceremony almost a month ago.
“And I’ll leave you with one other quote and I use it a lot. If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be more than you are right now. And I can tell you today is the beginning of something big. The famous quote is Kung Fu Panda,” said Day.
Words from an animated movie seem like a fit for this challenging healthcare transition. That was Dr. Scottie Day, physician-in-chief for Kentucky Children’s Hospital. Four specialty pediatric clinics are found in the renovated 25,000-square-foot facility.
“You bring your child. They go get their testing done and they go see their physician. Maybe they need mental health needs. We have psychologists available. We have social workers available. Maybe they need speech therapy, language therapy, physical therapy, OT. It’s all gonna be right here within this one shop,” said Day.
The healthcare structure features a complex care medical clinic, a developmental pediatrics clinic, a neonatal intensive care unit graduate clinic, and physical medicine and rehabilitation. Carol Steltenkamp is external chief medical officer for UK Healthcare. She said part of the challenge in making this collaboration work lies in the financial realm.
“Really thankful for our donors because the children that we’re seeing here with the complex medical and developmental needs..they take longer than the average patient when they come here to receive diagnosis and make a treatment plan. Insurance does not reimburse for the number of minutes spent with the patient,” said Steltenkamp
And to make it work, there are three organizations playing key roles. EasterSeals Bluegrass, a non-profit provides services and care to adults and children with special needs. Funding came from community partners of Children Miracle Network Hospitals. And, as University of Kentucky Vice President Eric Monday noted, UK Healthcare is a partner.
“A lot of the facility improvements that you’re seeing out here were funded by the Children’s Miracle Network, the facility-Easterseals of the Bluegrass owns the facility. And then the University of Kentucky brings our talent, brings our physicians, brings our clinical staff and team out here to provide those services,” said Monday.
During the ribbon cutting, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said around 1970 she performed her rotation for pediatric orthopedics at the old Shriners Hospital. The Richmond Road facility was idle for a number of years after the move to Limestone in 2017. Gorton noted the lull was caused by various factors.
“And it was sad that it sat for so many years unused. But I know there were some restrictions and reasons they had to go through a process to get it sold. It’s in a wonderful place now with the Easterseals and the Kentucky Children’s there. I mean, it’s a beautiful facility. It will be well used,” said Gorton.
On this day in October, six-year-old Bella, who is autistic, is being seen by nurse practitioner Megan Carter, who has cared for her for several years. Carter said early intervention is important for children to grow into happy adults. And the new facility does provide additional space compared to the prior location.
“There were some constraints in terms of like facilities we could use and rooms that we could use to do some assessments and diagnosis of some of our kids and now that we have more space here than we did at our old location I think we’ll be able to see more kids and get them in and get them assessed,” said Carter.
Bella and her mother and grandmother travel to Lexington for care, which is around three hours from Pike County. Jacqueline Carlisle said time with Carter has really benefitted her daughter.
“I just hope she keeps progressing the way she has. When we first started seeing Megan, we was really going through a lot of different issues. Megan has helped her so much. We could not do this without her,” said Carlisle.
When asked about her hopes for Bella, her grandmother, Lisa Moore has one that she realizes may or may not happen.
“She’ll just have the best possible life that she can. She’ll be happy and healthy and of course my biggest hope and prayer is that one day she will talk…. Not giving up on that, but if she doesn’t ever say a word she can find other ways to communicate,” said Moore.
Moore said Kentucky Children’s Richmond Road offers a place, after a long trip, for kids to play and stretch their legs. She also appreciates quiet waiting because, as Moore puts it kids with autism get stimulated easily and need a place to calm down. The facility is expected to be an active place. Dr. Scottie Day said some 7000 kids could be seen over a year’s time.
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Megan Carter and Bella
