Mercy Health-Lorain and Akron Children's Hospital are affiliating to improve child health and offer families greater access to high-quality, cost-effective pediatric services.
The two organizations will collaborate to improve access to pediatric services in Lorain and Oberlin. Mercy Health-Lorain is part of Bon Secours Mercy Health, a Catholic health system serving communities in seven states and in Ireland.
The move is a milestone for the health systems and for the entire community, Edwin Oley, market president at Mercy Health-Lorain, said in the release.
Akron Children's is expected to assume operations in early 2021 at three existing Mercy Health pediatric primary care offices: Chuang Medical Center in Oberlin, the Bitar Medical Center on Oak Point Road and in the Lorain Hospital Medical Office Building on Kolbe Road. Akron Children's will also offer physician specialty services in Lorain, including pediatric cardiology, with plans to add other specialties (including pediatric gastroenterology and maternal fetal medicine) in the near future, according to the release.
"We have been fortunate at Mercy Health to provide highly specialized care for newborns at our Level II special care nursery," Dr. Marcietta Wilson-Coleman, OB/GYN at Mercy Health-Lorain, said in a statement. "With this affiliation, we will be able to intervene during a mother's pregnancy, if needed, further emphasizing our ability to foster healthy newborns."
On top of primary care and specialty care, Akron Children's will provide expertise in pediatric emergency medical care at Mercy Health-Lorain, according to the release, which notes that Akron Children's is expected to begin these services in three to four months.
"Akron Children's has provided exceptional pediatric care to children in Northeast Ohio for 130 years, and we're happy to soon bring our services to families in Lorain County," Shawn Lyden, chief strategy officer at Akron Children's, said in a statement. "Our providers look forward to helping families find the highly specialized, quality care their children need close to home."
This article orginally appeared in Crain's Cleveland Business.
