Every child is a precious gift to be loved and cared for with the best resources possible. Good Samaritan had a vision – to fulfill a community need for the pediatric population by creating specialized and critical care services.

Comprehensive services were built around the established Pediatric Unit, starting with the addition of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). The medical talent of the critical care specialists and the pediatric subspecialists added a new dimension to the existing expertise. The continuum of care came full circle with the opening of the first Pediatric Emergency Department in Suffolk County and the multifaceted Center for Pediatric Specialty Care. These separate areas work in tandem to provide the highest quality health care to the community’s infants and children.

The entire pediatric staff is trained and dedicated to working exclusively with children. All are well aware that children are not little adults, but people with unique needs. Medical equipment designed for this age group, hospital rooms and waiting areas created for a child’s sensibilities, along with empathetic care for the smallest of patients all point to the Medical Center’s commitment to provide for this population.

The reputation as a Medical Center of distinction is based not only on the exceptionally skilled physicians and staff, but also on the availability of the latest medical technology. This combination of resources benefits newborns to adolescents as well as offering hope and reassurance to their families.

For further information, call (631) 376-4444.

The Center For Pediatric Specialty Care

Since 1959, when Good Samaritan opened its doors, there has been care available for the pediatric patient. As the hospital expanded, so did the Pediatric Unit. Medical breakthroughs, advanced technologies and a dedicated subspecialty support staff all added to the level of care that was available for infants, toddlers and adolescents. During the 1990s, great strides were taken to create a unique, comprehensive continuum of care for pediatric services. The Pediatric Unit served as the cornerstone to the evolvement that expanded to include a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the Center for Pediatric Specialty Care and the first pediatrician-staffed, 24-hour-a-day Pediatric Emergency Department in Suffolk County.

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

The state-of-the-art Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is the only dedicated PICU on Suffolk’s South Shore. The PICU is supervised by full-time board certified pediatric intensivists, a medical specialist whose training is to treat the critically ill child.

The Unit was designed under the guidance of pediatric intensivists, right down to the last details of choosing the finest cardiac and respiratory monitoring systems, as well as making the rooms non-threatening and child friendly.

The patient-to-nurse ratio is no more than 2:1, enabling nurses to respond on a minute-to-minute basis to meet the medical needs of a critically ill child. The nursing and support staff are all trained in pediatric critical care, offering years of experience and caring. The PICU staff is always willing to communicate with children and their parents to ease them through their experience with compassion, caring and lots of hugs.

Pediatric Sedation Services

Good Samaritan’s Pediatric Sedation Service is administered by board certified pediatric intensivists and pediatric critical care nurses. Sedation is typically required for the pediatric patient who is unable to remain still because of age, development, fear or simply the nature of the procedure being performed. Examples of the procedures in which sedation has been utilized include: CT scan, MRI, EEG, echocardiology, endoscopy, bronchoscopy, VCUG and various nuclear medicine scans.

The sedation service is available for elective procedures, inpatient as well as outpatient, Monday through Friday, 8am – 4pm. Patients are evaluated on the day of the procedure. Monitoring of the patient begins at the time of sedation and continues through the recovery period. The patient will require a referral/precertification for the procedure requiring sedation.

For further information, call Pediatric Services at (631) 376-3094.

Pediatric Transportation Program

With a phone call to 376-KIDS, the fully staffed transport team, able to provide sophisticated medical services, will transport the smallest of patients to Good Samaritan. Here at Good Samaritan, a full array of pediatric subspecialties are available, as well as general pediatric attendings to care for varying pediatric illnesses. There is also a fully staffed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) available when needed.

The service was implemented to enable families and their children to obtain state-of-the art pediatric care close to home. Activation occurs when a call comes into the designated number in the PICU and physician contact is made. An ambulance is then dispatched carrying personnel trained in pediatric care, including a physician, EMT, paramedic and respiratory therapist. In this way, the team is able to continue medical care en route, using a virtual mobile pediatric intensive care unit.

Upon arrival at Good Samaritan, the patient is immediately taken to the appropriate unit and full evaluation is initiated or continued. The patient’s private pediatrician is immediately contacted to report the transfer to Good Samaritan and continues to be actively involved in the patient’s care.

For further information, call (631) 376-KIDS.

Pediatric Physical & Occupational Therapy

The goal of this program is to further a child’s development and function in order to achieve the age appropriate skills necessary to perform daily life activities within the school and home environment.

For an infant, the therapist will work on achieving age appropriate development (motor) milestones including rolling, sitting, crawling and walking.

For a preschool aged child or an adolescent, the therapist will address gross motor delays, muscle weakness, balance/coordination deficits, gait deviations, impairments in fine motor skills and cognitive delays in order for the child to safely negotiate his or her environment.

For further information, call Rehabilitative Services at (631) 376-4109.