THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610220385
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 63 lines
Cmdr. Ken Norwood is a pediatrician who could conceivably have more than 130,000 patients.
That's how many children of active-duty sailors in Hampton Roads are eligible for care at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center - and that number doesn't include the children of retirees.
Though some Navy families seem unaware that the hospital has a place for children, the facility boasts a department of 20 pediatric residents, four general pediatricians and 18 specialists, and the ability to tackle a host of childhood ailments.
``People don't even know what's here,'' said Norwood, head of the hospital's pediatrics department.
Pediatricians at the Portsmouth center don't do open-heart surgery or liver transplants, and there isn't a children's burn unit in the existing 15-story hospital. That won't change - there are other, more suitable places to send children for those procedures, Norwood said.
But once the new naval medical center is completed in 1998, Norwood shouldn't have to turn away too many kids. Now, about one-third of those who need to be admitted end up going to a civilian hospital.
That's because, while Portsmouth has a 30-bed medical/surgical pediatrics ward, plus a three-bed adolescent mini-ward, it has no pediatric intensive care unit. Critically ill children and teenagers who need more than a day or two of intensive care are generally referred to another facility.
Norwood said 130 to 150 children are admitted to the pediatric ward each month. In addition, Portsmouth has a neonatal intensive care unit for critically ill infants; the 13-bed unit is almost always full.
With the Navy's new Tricare PRIME health care service now available to both active-duty and retired sailors, many Navy families use outlying clinics or see civilian physicians and make a co-payment for the visit.
``But there's still a certain population who come to our acute care and general pediatrics and adolescent clinics here at the hospital,'' Norwood said. ``Cost is definitely a factor. But it goes beyond the co-payment; there's a segment who prefer military doctors.''
Cmdr. Mike Nowicki, a pediatric gastroenterologist, believes that ``most people think Navy medicine is geared to keep the fleet afloat. But along with the sailor, often comes kids. If we take good care of them, then the sailor doesn't have to worry when (he or she) is at sea.''
The pediatrics acute care clinic is in the 15-story hospital, but the general pediatrics and adolescent clinics, neonatal intensive care unit, subspecialty clinics and administrative offices are located in the ``old hospital,'' built in 1827 and enlarged in the 1940s.
``People think, just because we're working in a facility that's not pretty,'' Norwood said, ``that the quality of care is reflected in it, that the quality isn't there.
``But, with the new specialists we're getting, and the new hospital opening, a lot of things are coming together.
``We're on the threshold of an exciting period,'' he said. ``I believe that pediatrics at this center will lead the way in medical medicine and be the most visible pediatrics center in Hampton Roads.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
RICHARD DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot
Dr. Rod Luhn, a Navy captain, examines Andrew Walton, 14, at the
Adolescent Health Clinic at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center. by CNB