Sierra View Partners with Valley Children's Hospital

Local patients and caregivers will be impacted by the rewards of a SVMC and VCH partnership.

At Sierra View Medical Center, pediatric patients are receiving care through collaboration by nationally recognized Valley Children’s Hospital (VCH).

In 2014, Sierra View and Valley Children’s became joint partners to collaborate for education and tele-medicine advancement. Now, the two San Joaquin Valley hospitals have integrated a hospitalist program to better serve their communities.

“Our partnership has, from the beginning, advocated for keeping as many pediatric patients in our own community as possible, but when circumstances are necessary, we have the services of Valley Children’s available to our most vulnerable patients for tertiary or higher-level care,” said SVMC Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nurse Executive, Dr. Jeffery Hudson-Covolo.

Before this year, two physicians managed hospitalist duties at Sierra View Medical Center. After seeing a rising need for a larger team to maintain the highest quality of care, the local hospital and Valley Children’s strengthened their partnership by having VCH manage the hospitalist program.

Hospitalists are designated physicians who care for patients during their stay in the hospital. Rather than a primary-care physician overseeing treatment, VCH hospitalists provide comprehensive care to the smallest patients at Sierra View.

The VCH Hospitalist Program is overseen by Medical Director, Dr. John R. Kinnison, and in coordination with Sierra View leadership such as Dr. Hudson-Covolo.

“Local children in our own community can come to Sierra View for their medical needs,” said SVMC Pediatric Hospitalist, Dr. Omid Gheysar. “After physician evaluation, we can take care of the majority of the patients in our facility with expert care in connection and cooperation with Valley Children’s Hospital. This partnership is beneficial because it allows for families to stay close to home without it being a necessity to travel to Madera in order to take care of their children.”

Patients can remain close to home all while receiving care from Valley Children’s Hospital. Telemedicine takes the partnership one step further by allowing live video conferencing with specialists at VCH for the best possible patient outcomes.

Sierra View caregivers and employees also benefit from the partnership with VCH with training, education and experience.

“Since announcing our partnership in 2014, Valley Children’s Hospital has provided training for our team members, as well as welcoming physicians, nurses and respiratory therapy professionals from SVMC to gain valuable hours of training and education at Valley Children’s Hospital,” added Dr. Hudson-Covolo.

Leadership at both organizations has also collaborated on projects and plans for improvement on healthcare in the San Joaquin Valley. The connection between the local hospitals has not only benefited patients and employees, but community members as well with state-of-the-art facilities and advancing capabilities.