PEDIATRICS SERVICE RESITUATES

Southeast Missouri Hospital's pediatric outpatient rehabilitation service has resituated to new and expanded facilities in west Cape Girardeau.

With the move, the service also has a new name: The Pediatric SPOT (Speech, Physical, Occupational Therapy).

Judi McBride, rehabilitation services director at Southeast, said The Pediatric SPOT, at 2851 Professional Court, serves children with a number of problems, including speech and hearing, orthopedic and neurological conditions, and developmental delay. Admission to the pediatric rehabilitation program is by physician referral only.

The facility offers sensory integration testing and treatment for children identified as having sensory integration deficits (the neurological process that organizes sensations from the body and makes it possible to use the body effectively in the environment).

The hospital reported its pediatric rehabilitation service is growing. Thirty-five to 50 children receive outpatient rehabilitation through the hospital each day, it said.

Southeast Administrator James W. Wente said the decision to resituate the service was also based upon the hospital's commitment to pediatric care.

"The Pediatric SPOT is a service to the community and to children to their future, and, ultimately, to the future of the region," Wente said.

McBride said there has been tremendous growth in the pediatric rehabilitation field. Much of the growth, she said, was precipitated by advances in health care.

For example, the odds now for premature infants are much better than even 10 years ago, she said, and that means a lot of medically fragile children. The infants need therapy to help them take food orally, breathe properly and learn movements already known by a healthy child of the same age.

Medicine has also gone a long way in curing or at least lengthening the lives of children diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses, said the hospital.

"Parents want the best possible opportunities for their child's development," said McBride. "We work as a team to help each child reach his or her full potential. The rewards come when you see a child progress."