Caring for your kids as if they were our own at Ventura County Medical Center
With over 20 years of experience as a hospital pediatrician and my current role as the Associate Medical Director at Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC), I am excited to share the latest updates about pediatric care at VCMC.
VCMC is the designated Level 2 Trauma Center for the county, a teaching hospital, home to a renowned Family Medicine Residency Program, and the sole Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in the county. We have been working hard to establish ourselves as a regional center of excellence for pediatric services.
We have expanded our partnership with Children's Hospital Los Angeles to improve access to quality pediatric subspecialty services in Ventura County. Additionally, we are proud to have an affiliation with the Keck School of Medicine at USC, which allows us to offer new learning and cross-training opportunities to Family Medicine Residents, contributing to the growth of the next generation of family medicine doctors serving our community.
Finally, we are grateful to our partners at Community Memorial Healthcare and our recent collaboration which further allows us to offer high-quality pediatric inpatient care close to home. These strategic partnerships enable us to attract and retain specialized providers and staff in fields like pediatric hematology and oncology, neurology, gastroenterology, as well as a pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgeon.
Our approach to care is centered on the entire family. This approach was further enhanced when VCMC became the third hospital in California, and the only public hospital worldwide, to host a Ronald McDonald Family Room. Thanks to the generosity of local donors and partners, families can now find comfort, respite, and support near their child's hospital bed.
We understand that hospitals and medical procedures can be anxiety-inducing, so our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit offers pediatric sedation and the county's only Child Life Specialist to ensure the comfort of our youngest patients and their families.
In healthcare, a centralized care team and approach mean improved coordination, access to specialized services, and added convenience for patients and their families. By reducing duplication through our collaboration with Community Memorial Healthcare, and expanding our resources, we aim to minimize the need to send children outside the county for care, benefiting everyone involved.
Many of our dedicated medical staff not only call Ventura County home but have had their children receive specialty and inpatient pediatric care at VCMC and our clinics. This trust in our system by our own staff reflects our commitment to "caring for your kids as if they were our own."
As we look ahead to the new year and the opening of our grant-funded 16-bed pediatric unit, we remain committed to being the safety net for the community and ensuring access to high-quality, compassionate pediatric outpatient, hospital, and subspecialty care.
Prior to becoming the Medical Director of Inpatient Pediatrics at Ventura County Medical Center in 2003, Dr. Todd Flosi received his medical degree from the University of Southern California, and completed his pediatric residency at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Dr. Flosi is also the Associate Medical Director for the hospital, and consults for the County’s Human Services Agency on children who are victims of violence.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Caring for your kids as if they were our own
