System's first pediatric surgeon already on board

The emergence of a steel frame on the east side of Baptist Memphis, adjacent to Baptist Hospital for Women, marks that health system’s most aggressive venture into pediatrics. The four-story pediatric wing will be completed in phases, with an existing pediatric emergency department moving there to open in January. The hospital system has also hired its first pediatric surgeon.

“Our pediatricians, our pediatric specialists, our moms and dads have continuously asked for this," said Anita Vaughn, RN, BA, MPA, administrator and chief executive officer, Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women. "We’ve been open 12 years, delivered 65,000 babies, and we want to be able to provide that continuum of care in east Memphis."

The new surgeon, Fawn Lewis, MD, has just started and will be spearheading a pediatric surgery initiative in phases as well as playing a key role in developing the pediatric program. She will serve the entire 14-hospital system, but most of her practice will be concentrated at Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women.

Lewis came from Nemours Children’s Clinic in Pensacola, Fla., where she served as division chief of pediatric surgery. She also was medical director of pediatric trauma services at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. She has been in pediatric surgery 11 years and trained in general surgery five years previously. She is also educated in surgical critical care and ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). After a nationwide search for a general surgeon, Vaughn described Lewis as an “ideal fit.”

“The opportunity here is very exciting to be able to bring additional services to a market that certainly has a need," Lewis said. "Le Bonheur and St. Jude have excellent services, but the area demand outstrips the need they can provide coverage for, so we can meet the need of the Baptist community and the eastern portion of Memphis providing services that were difficult to obtain previously."

The goal for Baptist is to create an experience where general pediatric services and subspecialty offerings are integrated and access is convenient for both the pediatrician, the patient and the parent — a seamless experience. It can be frustrating to get all of that done well in a system, Lewis explained. She says surgery areas will include chest, abdomen, head and neck. “Really everything except for the heart, brain and bones. We’ll do everything else."

There are 12 inpatient pediatric rooms at Baptist Hospital for Women. The pediatric emergency department is housed within the adult emergency department at Baptist Memphis. An outpatient pediatric diagnostic area, P.D. Perch, exists in the women’s hospital for now.

 The expanded emergency department will grow from five exam rooms to eight within the new building. The ED and P.D. Perch area will occupy the 18,500-square-foot bottom floor of the new pediatric wing. The 2nd through 4th floors are for future expansion (a total of 36,000 square feet for the three floors). Within the next year after the opening of the emergency department in January, Baptist will be moving the inpatient rooms to the new area and filing for a certificate of need for a pediatric intensive care unit.

Baptist officials say the hospital is not in competition with existing pediatric services within the area.

“We are not competing with Le Bonheur for the very high-end and acute-care services,” Vaughn said. “The hearts, the neuro — those type things. But for the general care we as parents all face at a time when a fever isn’t being controlled, asthma, dehydration, they need to be seen in the emergency room and some need to be admitted for further stabilizing there. That’s where we are.”

Baptist has 120 pediatric physicians on its roster, both general and in such specialties as ophthalmology, cardiology, endocrinology, general surgery, otolaryngology, orthopedics and neurology -- to name a few. Vaughn explained that other services will be evaluated as they move forward and plan strategically while construction continues.

“We have tremendous support from the community — a family advisory group, a physician and clinical advisory group and just community parents and pediatricians who have been a tremendous support," Vaughn said. "We have wanted this to be a women’s and children’s hospital from day one, so being this close to meeting our dream is very exciting."

A survey of Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown, the closest pediatric presence to Baptist in east Memphis, showed it had 12 pediatric inpatient beds and pediatric emergency and urgent care services. Sara Burnett, a Le Bonheur spokesperson, said pediatric patients triaged there and needing an additional level of care are transferred to Le Bonheur Hospital in the medical center. She also said there will be a Le Bonheur Children’s Outpatient Center East opening in 2016. The center will employ 25 people and be near Baptist on Humphreys Boulevard. It will include pediatric clinics, pediatric rehabilitation, diagnostic imaging (MRI, CT), general diagnostics and therapies for pediatric patients, as well as a dozen specialties. Le Bonheur officials were unavailable to comment.