2. Agency Mission and Goals
The mission of Children’s Hospital Central California is to provide high
quality, comprehensive healthcare services to children, regardless of
their ability to pay, and to continuously improve the health and wellbeing of children
(www.childrenscentralcal.org/info/pages/aboutinfo.aspx).
Our vision is to become the nation's best children's hospital
(www.childrenscentralcal.org/info/pages/aboutinfo.aspx).
Children’s Hospital Central California relies on many values to guide its
decisions. Their values are excellence, compassionate care, integrity,
innovation, collaboration and stewardship.
3. Populations at Risk
The population at risk is simple: Children.
Children with medical needs, some far more serious than
others, require different care than that of adults.
Children’s Hospital specializes in care of children
regardless of ethnicity, gender, income level or available
insurance.
The hospital sees over 1 million children annually, either in
one of its many clinics or through the Emergency Room.
Children’s Hospital will provide services to all children
from birth until the age of 21, at which point they are then
hopefully transferred out to an adult facility.
4. Community Context
The geographic community that Children’s Hospital
serves is most of the San Joaquin Valley.
Covering 10 counties including Kern county up to Lake
Isabella, San Louis Obispo County, Stanislaus County,
above Modesto, Bishop, McFarland, Delano,
Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Visalia, Porterville,
Merced, and Hanford.
Many patients also are simultaneously seen at other
children’s hospitals such as UCLA and Stanford.
6. Community Context Continued
The income level of most communities that Children’s hospital
serves is low.
Many are farming communities and rural areas.
The San Joaquin Valley is a very diverse community with people
all of all ethnicities, such as White, Hispanic, Hmong, Indian,
African American and Armenian. Those are only naming a few.
There is a fairly large mix of how people travel to the hospital.
Some people travel by car, some travel by transit and there are
others who use the Greyhound bus.
Children’s Hospital is actively involved in it’s community and
with several organizations such as The Ronald McDonald House
and Central Valley Regional Center (CVRC).
7. Services Provided by Organization
Children’s Hospital is a 348 bed facility making it the 2nd
largest children’s hospital in the state and one of the 10
largest hospitals of its type in the nation.
The hospital is a full service facility.
Some of the services provided by Children’s Hospital are:
Oncology, Cardiology, Nephrology, Urology, Physical
Therapy, NICU, PICU, and Psychology.
There are also other services available such as palliative
care, child life, interpreter services, social services and an
onsite pharmacy.
These are only a select few services. The list is quite
extensive. Here is a link that provides the full list.
www.childrenscentralcal.org/Services/Pages/default.aspx
8. Organizational Structure
Children’s Hospital is a not-for-profit organization.
The hospital has a Board of Directors. They are:
Chair: David Nalchajian
Vice Chair: Paul McDougal
Secretary: Kim Beck
Treasurer: Michele Waldron
Immediate Past Chair: Richard Shehadey
(http://waystogive.childrenscentralcal.org/Page.aspx?pi
d=368)
9. Organizational Structure Continued
There are managers and supervisors in all areas of the
hospital. The doctors, nurses, dieticians and social
workers all have their own managers.
The environment in the hospital is very open and there
seems to be free flow of information between all
positions within the hospital.
The interns are assigned someone to shadow and are
supervised by not only that person, but also by the
supervisors boss.
10. Social Work Values
The role of the social worker in the hospital is just to make
sure that all the needs of the patient are being met.
The social worker will make sure that the patients
insurance is in order, make sure the patients have
transportation to and from the hospital, check to see if the
patients and their families have enough food to eat,
support them as the family deals with their child’s
diagnosis, bereavement, and assisting patients that are
nearing 21 with medical care once they age out of the
hospital. These are only a few things that the social worker
does on a daily basis.
11. Social Work Values Continued
The social workers at the hospital have access to
transportation vouchers for families who are unable to
make appointments because they lack transportation.
They also have access to gas cards, cash assistance, meal
vouchers, and the food pantry.
Mostly I have seen though that the most important thing
the social worker does daily is just sits and listens. Many
patients just need to talk and have someone listen to them.
My field instructor told me during my first week,
sometimes the best thing you can do is just get used to the
silence. The silence may be what they need. I now know
that to be true.
12. Similar Agency Abroad
Sydney’s Children’s Hospital
Their motto is: Children first and foremost
(http://www.sch.edu.au/general/about)
Their mission is: Sydney Children's Hospital aims to
improve the health and wellbeing of children and their
families through promoting wellness and caring for
illness effectively, efficiently, compassionately and
equitably (http://www.sch.edu.au/general/about).
13. Similar Agency Abroad Continued
The hospitals focus is the care of children. They are
also a teaching hospital, just like Children’s Hospital
Central California.
The list of services provided is quite large. Similar to,
but more extensive than that of Children’s Hospital.
They are also connected to The Ronald McDonald
House, which I find interesting.
Here is also the link providing the complete list of
services they provide:
http://www.sch.edu.au/services/services.html