Phoebe – Atrium Health Navicent Partnership Benefits Southwest Georgia Pediatric Patients
Albany, GA | March 23, 2022 – Lynnly Holley is a happy and active toddler now, but when she was born at Phoebe nearly three years ago, her life got off to a difficult start. “Everything happened really, really fast,” Lynnly’s mother Caitlynn Holley said, recalling the day her daughter was born. “They took her straight to the NICU. They stabilized her and let me see her for a few minutes before they took her to Macon.”
After a complicated premature birth, Lynnly was diagnosed with a rare and serious condition that required a lengthy hospitalization and, eventually, surgery.
“I don’t think she would be alive had she not gotten the care she got at Phoebe and from Dr. Talley (Thomas Talley, Caitlynn’s obstetrician/gynecologist). The care we got at Phoebe, from the doctors and the NICU team, was exceptional,” Holley said.
In order to get the specialized care Lynnly needed, she was transferred to Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital in Macon where Atrium Health Navicent pediatric surgeon Dr. Joshua Glenn led her care team.
“We never worried because we felt like we were in very good hands with Dr. Glenn. He knew what he was doing, and he cared, and he always answered our questions. And that is as much as you can ask,” said Holley, who lives in Donalsonville with her husband, Jacob, who is a surgeon at Donalsonville Hospital.
While Phoebe has often transferred patients who need specialized pediatric treatment to the care of experts in Macon, that partnership expanded one year ago when Phoebe and Atrium Health Navicent signed a new clinical affiliation.
“The goal of our partnership was to make it easier for southwest Georgia families to get the inpatient, outpatient and follow-up care their children need, and we certainly have achieved that by working directly with the team at Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital,” said Dr. William Sewell, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital Medical Director for Women and Children’s Services.
Through this innovative children’s care relationship with Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital in Macon, Phoebe is able to provide a deeper level of care and coordination, when needed, for children’s specialties. Atrium Health Navicent specialists provide virtual and in-person consultations, offering the most advanced pediatric diagnostics available, along with the latest state-of-the-art medical treatments.
“Atrium Health Navicent is proud to partner with Phoebe to expand access to healthcare and make it easier for children and their families across Georgia to receive care they need, close to home,” said Atrium Health Navicent President and CEO Delvecchio Finley. “Improving the life of a child by providing high-quality care has the potential to have lasting impacts on the health and wellness of more than just southwest Georgia, but the entire state.”
Surgeons, neurologists, hematologists, oncologists and endocrinologists from Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital regularly visit the Phoebe Pediatric Specialty Clinic in Albany to provide follow-up and ongoing care management. Work is underway to add additional specialties to the rotation to further expand access to care. In the first year of the clinical affiliation agreement, there have been more than 300 patient visits benefitting children like Lynnly.
Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital’s intensivists also provide telehealth services, working with Phoebe’s pediatric hospitalists to provide acute and intensive care for children admitted to Phoebe.
In the last year, Phoebe hired a new pediatric hospitalist, Dr. Marie Jean-Baptiste. She and her team in Phoebe’s pediatric unit, know the specialists at Atrium Health Navicent are always just a phone call away.
Lynnly spent a month in Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital, then returned to Phoebe for a month before finally being able to go home. “We were grateful we were able to walk out of the hospital with her in our arms,” Holley said.
She had surgery to repair her condition when she was eight months-old. The pre-surgery appointments and all but one of the follow-up appointments with Dr. Glenn have been in Albany. “It’s been really beneficial not to have to travel so far with a child who does not like a car seat,” Holley said. “Not having to get hotel rooms every time or having to pay for gas, and it’s just the convenience. I think it’s good for people to realize that Phoebe has partnered with a facility that has very qualified doctors and nurses.”
Lynnly has done so well, she now only needs an annual checkup. “They’ll continue to monitor her through her potty training years, but there are no more planned surgeries,” her mom happily reported. “She’s great. She’s a busy little 2-year old, and we’re so thankful.”