Children & Pediatrics
In the Event of an Emergency
If your child needs urgent care, St. Mary’s Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is and attuned to the needs of children, from staff trained in Pediatric Advanced Life Support to IV needles specially made to work in a child’s small blood vessels.
Parents and guardians are welcome 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We encourage one parent to “room in” with your child to increase your child’s comfort and ease your anxiety. We also provide a complementary meal for you at mealtimes if you choose to stay with your child. Other adults can visit between 8:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Siblings and other children under the age of 14 should visit only with permission from your child’s physician and the nursing staff. Family members may not accompany children into surgery, but may stay with their child before surgery and during post-anesthesia recovery.
Staff members and specialists are dedicated to working with your child’s physicians to provide compassionate, age-appropriate care in a friendly healing environment. St. Mary’s staff understands how upsetting a hospital visit can be to your child – and to you – and works to communicate clearly and calmly, to control pain, and to give comfort and reassurance to both your child and you.
Find a Service
The St. Mary’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) provides an individualized, compassionate healing environment by caring for patients ranging from critically ill premature infants to full-term infants with minor illnesses.
Our highly trained team attends every C-Section and high-risk delivery, transports infants to and from St. Mary’s when transfers are required, and commonly treats respiratory distress, sepsis (overwhelming infections), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and complications of prematurity. The expert care provided by St. Mary’s NICU allows families to keep their babies close by and in the same building as the Family Birth Center.
To protect you and your newborn, St. Mary’s uses cutting-edge technology to provide security in the NICU. All NICU staff have special badge access and each infant is given a security transmitter when they are no longer critically ill. The transmitter sends a signal when the infant is near a stairwell or exit to alert staff and protect your baby.
Level II NICU
Our staff supports a family centered approach to care, with our NICU staff partnering with parents and guardians in decision-making and care being provided. Parents have the ability to meet with their baby’s neonatologist, nurse practitioners, NICU nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, and chaplains, and also have 24 hour access to the NICU. Visitors are welcome (when accompanied by a parent), and must be free of infection or fever.
- Pull-out couches turn into beds if parents wish to room-in
- Nine private, soothing, and quiet, rooms can accommodate up to two infants (allowing twins to remain together)
- Lighting technology (diurnal lighting) to ensure infants experience the normal rhythms of day and night
- With the additional observation area, the unit can accommodate more than 20 infants and the most up-to-date equipment and supplies
- Complete lactation support, including available breast pumps for mothers of NICU patients if needed
Breastfeeding and Lactation Support
St. Mary’s Certified Lactation Consultants will work with you and your baby to make every effort for your baby to receive your breastmilk, which can be instrumental in supporting your baby’s health and immunity. If your baby is unable to breastfeed, which is common with extremely premature or sick babies, our lactation consultants will teach you how to pump to supply your breastmilk to your baby.
St. Mary’s NICU will store your breastmilk for your baby’s feedings. As your baby grows and develops, our St. Mary’s Certified Lactation Consultants can work with pumping moms to transition from pumping to breastfeeding when appropriate.
Additional Resources
Tailored to the Needs of Children
St. Mary’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Center is located off GA Hwy 316 near the Athens Perimeter at The Exchange, 2470 Daniells Bridge Road, Athens. Rehabilitative services require a physician’s referral. For more information call (706) 389-2950.
St. Mary’s offers an innovative outpatient rehabilitation program specifically geared to the needs of children. St. Mary’s Pediatric Rehabilitation Program is staffed by physical, occupational and speech-language therapists who have special credentials and experience in pediatric care. Therapy is often useful for children with developmental delays, orthopedic and neurological disorders, and birth defects, as well as for those recovering from injuries or surgery.
Whether recovering from a sports injury or living with cerebral palsy, St. Mary’s highly qualified and compassionate therapists have the skill and expertise to help your child feel better. Therapists at St. Mary’s specialize in pediatric disorders and offer unique services to personalize care to your child’s needs, including:
- Our region’s only licensed listening therapy program
- The area’s only therapeutic trapeze program through Canopy
- Athens only Sensory Integration Certified therapist
- Feeding clinic supervised by a pediatric dysphagia therapist
- Deaf and hard-of-hearing communication therapy with sign language experience
- Cranial-sacral, Myofascial release therapy
- Craniofacial and Cleft palate therapy
- AAC (alternative augmentative communication) ordering and programming
- Hand splinting and wheelchair fittings
- Orthoses ordering and training for patient’s and their families
- Torticollis treatments
- Autism spectrum and PDD treatment coordination and behavioral need support
- Expanded collaboration with a well established pediatric team to address and train in nearly every complication referred
Staff members and specialists are dedicated to working with your child’s physicians to provide compassionate, age-appropriate care in a friendly healing environment. St. Mary’s staff understands how upsetting a hospital visit can be to your child – and to you – and works to communicate clearly and calmly, to control pain, and to give comfort and reassurance to both your child and you.
Who was Clute Barrow Nelson?
Clute Barrow Nelson was a happy, typical boy, the first child of Don and Phyllis Nelson of Athens, when he began having serious health problems. Physicians found an inoperable tumor in his brain, leading to an 16-month fight to save his life that took him and his family to numerous hospitals, clinics and facilities across the nation.
His courage and unshakable compassion for those around him touched all of Northeast Georgia. Clute eventually lost his fight, dying peacefully at age 6, but not before inspiring many, including hundreds of friends at St. Mary’s, to work even harder on behalf of children like him. His family – Don, Phyllis and brother Arthur – kindly granted St. Mary’s permission to name our children’s and pediatric services in his honor, in the hope that medical services for children in the Athens area can be enhanced and save other families some of the hardship and worry they and Clute endured.
Surgical Services
Outpatient and inpatient surgery are available for a wide range of pediatric health care needs, including ear tubes, hernia repair, orthopedic corrections and more.
Outpatient Rehabilitation Services
Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language therapy, all tailored to the special needs of children. Services are provided at St. Mary’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Center at The Exchange, 2470 Daniells Bridge Road. A physician order is required. For more information call (706) 389-2950.
Diabetes Education
One-on-one counseling for children with Type I and Type II diabetes and for their parents and caregivers. Teens and parents of children with diabetes may also take advantage of St. Mary’s regular Diabetes Education classes. A physician order is required. To contact our Diabetes Education department, call (706) 389-2150.
Home Hospice
All hospice services that are available for adults are available for children, too, including nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, pastoral care, social work services, volunteer assistance, and home health aides. In addition, St. Mary’s Hospice House provides care to children in the hospice program who can no longer remain at home. For information call (706) 389-2273.
Hometown Pediatrics is a full-service pediatric practice offering comprehensive care for children from birth to age 21. Our staff is passionate about providing well-rounded care to promote your child's physical, mental, and emotional health. We want to partner with families in raising their children into happy, healthy adults. We provide care from well child checks to acute same day visits to management of chronic conditions.
St. Mary's Hospital has the region’s most spacious Family Birth Center, where most women can labor, deliver, recover and complete their post-partum stay in one room. We offer digital imaging capabilities in our Women’s Imaging Center, including 3D-mammography, MRI-guided breast biopsy, CT, ultrasound and a breast health nurse.
Visit our classes and events calendar to find resources for both expectant and new parents.