Caring Hearts beating in Crestview
CRESTVIEW — As Gaige Rawlings scooted his Big Wheel around the toy-strewn room in the Caring Hearts Pediatric Extended Care facility, Jaden Wells-Roper, Robert Harrison and Kai Drummond-Pooler got down to the more serious business of making Play Doh creations.
At first glance, the children could be in any daycare center in the area. However, these youths and the others playing here under the watchful eyes of several nurses and nurses assistants have special medical needs that preclude them from being in standard daycare centers.
“We are essentially a daycare for medically complex children,” said Diana Smith, RN, director of nursing and the administrator of Caring Hearts.
The youths have to have some sort of medical necessity, such as tube feeding, mechanical ventilation or seizures to be enrolled at Caring Hearts, Smith said.
The youngsters range in age from newborn up to age 21, which is when Medicare stops coverage, Smith said. Almost all of the center’s funding comes from Medicare and Medicaid.
The Crestview facility is the 28th in the state but is the first one in a rural community, “which is why ours is so special,” Smith said proudly.
The Crestview center opened in April with five patients. It now has 14. It is licensed to accommodate a maximum of 35 patients.
Staffed with registered and licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants, the Caring Hearts staff works under the kids’ doctors’ orders. Dr. Joseph Peter of Crestview Pediatrics is the medical director.
The staff can do lab work and works closely with Nemours at Sacred Heart Hospital.
“All the specialists for pediatrics are there,” Smith said.
Caring Hearts provides occupational, speech and physical therapy twice a week.
The center accommodates children and young people with many medical needs.
“One of the conditions it’s more difficult for us to work with is autism, because it’s more behavioral,” said Smith.
Patients come from communities as geographically diverse as Ponce De Leon, DeFuniak Springs and Laurel Hill.
“We’re licensed to handle the tri-county area,” Smith said, explaining that Caring Hearts also offers transportation services.
“Anybody can refer to us,” Smith said. “If anybody knows of someone with special needs, such as the family’s working or going to school and has the medical necessity for our type of day care, they don’t need to go through a doctor or hospital.”
CARING HEARTS PEDIATRIC EXTENDED CARE:
380 Medcrest Dr., off of Redstone Avenue behind Publix, next door to Crestview Pediatrics, (850) 689-1376.