The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland recognized Franklin Health Pediatrics for excellence in pediatric care. Clinicians, from left, are Heather Lynn, Ryan Whitt, Tanya Lever, Emily Jacobs, Nicole Donahue and Gabriel Civiello.
FARMINGTON — The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center has recognized Franklin Health Pediatrics for excellence in pediatric care.
The practice was one of 14 MaineHealth practices receiving the recognition that honors MaineHealth primary care practices and providers for meeting high standards for pediatric care and achieving benchmarks for patient screenings, vaccinations and preventive care.
These benchmarks include meeting the following targets for clinical care:
• Patients receive all their recommended well-child visits each year.
• Patients are screened every year to help identify and prevent adverse childhood experiences and trauma in childhood.
• Patients receive their recommended vaccines. This includes receiving their full series of vaccines before their second birthday and their HPV vaccines by the time they are 13 years old.
The goals of the Excellence in Pediatric Care Program additionally identify, prevent and treat the numerous factors that can affect a child’s health. These include adverse childhood experiences, food insecurity, oral health, vaccines, healthy behaviors that prevent childhood obesity, and early literacy.
For example, patients are screened for food insecurity during a well-child visit. Those who do not have reliable access to affordable healthy food are referred to the MaineHealth Food Pantry on the Franklin Memorial Hospital campus.
Franklin Health pediatricians and nurse practitioners see children regularly to address these issues and other health concerns at well-child visits.
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