FORT LEE, Va. (Nov. 20, 2014) -- After several months of extreme understaffing, the Wilkerson Pediatric Clinic is back to full strength with providers to meet the need of the community's youngsters.
Since the clinic's providers (three doctors and three nurse practitioners) are divided by the Patient Centered Medical Home practice model, the exodus of staff members decreased the accessibility by half this past year.
"We want the community to know we are fully staffed again and have plenty of access to meet their needs," said Lt. Col. Kenneth West, Primary Care Division chief. "We have appointments starting as early at 7:20 a.m. and finishing up with our last appointment at 3:20 p.m. every day the clinic is open. Our three new providers began arriving at the end of June and by late August, all three were on board."
Those providers -- Dr. Evelyn Tuason; Shaundrea Faulk, a nurse practitioner; and Dr. Sylvia Lee -- created a new Team Horse.
"We are very happy to have them on board," said West. "They are here for the community's kids and parents. They are eager to get to know their patients."
During the pediatric access crisis, Robert Hufford a physician's assistant for the Family Medicine Clinic's York Team, came to the rescue, West said.
"Bob helped to mitigate the negative repercussions of losing an entire team of providers," he said. "He spent half of his time in the pediatric clinic for several months and stayed on when we initially got more pediatric providers so they would have time to get in-processed and oriented to our facility. We owe him a debt of gratitude we cannot repay."
The difference in providers is something patients who are new to the clinic might not notice.
"Those of you who have been patients here for more than a year probably felt the pinch we were experiencing during the staffing shortage," said Lt. Col. Scot Tebo, the deputy commander for clinical services. "While we did our best to meet our pediatric patients' needs, we were keenly aware we were not always able to provide appointments the same day or as soon as they were wanted."
During the crisis, many patients were given appointments with someone other than their primary care manager or they were sent out to network urgent care partners because of the shortage, West said.
"We did the best we could, and we weren't happy about the inconvenience many of our patients experienced," he noted.
If a patient changed their PCM when their old provider left, they are still assigned to the provider they selected.
If an individual did not change their PCM, their assignment is as follows: patients formerly assigned to Dr. Janet West-Brown are now assigned to Tuason; patients formerly assigned to Elke Zschaebitz are now assigned to Faulk, nurse practitioner; and patients formerly assigned to Dr. Zenen Limbo-Perez are now assigned to Lee.
The providers for Team Zebra remain the same. Dr. Eduardo Sinaguinan (just call him Dr. Ed); Julia Patsell, nurse practitioner, and Alison Rank, nurse practitioner, are the striped providers.
Appointments can be made by calling the appointment line at (866) LEE-KAHC or 866-533-5242 or by using the TRICARE Online feature. Secure messaging also is available through the Army Medicine Secured Messaging System. Sign- up is available at the Pediatric Front Desk.
The clinic also recently extended its hours for patients to receive their annual flu vaccine on Nov. 12, 13 and 19, said West.
"In a recent meeting with the Fort Lee Area Spouses Club, the members expressed to our commander, Col. Thomas S. Bundt they needed later hours to get their children in to the clinic for their flu immunization. They asked and we've responded."
Three of the extended service-hour dates have passed. The final one is today -- the clinic will stay open until 6 p.m. for flu vaccines.
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