Where We Work
Valley Children's hospital medicine fellows have the opportunity to learn at multiple facilities throughout the Central Valley.
Valley Children's Hospital, Madera, CA
Valley Children's Hospital is a nonprofit, state-of-the-art children’s hospital on a 50-acre campus with a medical staff of more than 550 physicians and 330 beds. Valley Children's Hospital treats more inpatient cases than any pediatric hospital north of San Diego. This is the main training site for the pediatric hospital medicine fellowship program. There is 24/7 attending coverage. The patient mix is 78% underserved. As a single site institution, the GME department, the DIO, and the GMEC oversee the fellowship program to ensure the quality of the program.
Kaweah Delta Health Care District, Visalia, CA
Fellows’ community hospital medicine experience will occur at Kaweah Health (Site 2), a large regional medical center in Visalia, CA. It has a 12 bed inpatient pediatrics unit, staffed with pediatric nurses and a pediatric hospitalist 24/7. The pediatrics service has an average daily census of 3-4 patients, the majority of whom are admitted for straightforward, common pediatric illnesses not requiring intensive or subspecialty care. In the event that these care needs arise, patients are transferred to Valley Children’s Hospital (Site 1). Fellows will also care for healthy newborns, supervised by pediatric hospitalists, on the 42-bed Mother Baby unit, with rooming in of mother-infant dyads. With an average daily census of 23 infants and nearly 5000 deliveries per year, this opportunity provides fellows significant experience to gain comfort and competence in the care of healthy newborns. Fellows will also be able to attend high risk deliveries with the NICU staff, and have exposure to neonatal resuscitation with supervision by board-certified neonatologists. The facility also has a 23-bed NICU, available for escalation of care should patients on the well-baby service require it.
About the Region We Serve
Located in the heart of Central California, Valley Children's is the only pediatric specialty care center between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Our service area extends from San Joaquin County in the north to Kern County in the south, and from the Central Coast to the eastern Sierra. The map below illustrates Valley Children’s service area.
Children’s health outcomes are largely determined by where children live, learn and play. Across the counties we serve, children experience vastly different health outcomes.
Children living within Valley Children's catchment area face a number of challenges that can impact their health and well-being, including:
| Access to Care |
Many communities in the Central Valley lack access to healthcare providers and resources.
|
| Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) |
In Valley Children's catchment area, ACEs affect 17% of children.
|
| Asthma |
Due to poor air quality, asthma-related hospitalizations among children in our region are among the highest in the state.
|
| Child Abuse |
Counties within Valley Children's catchment area have high rates of substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect.
|
| Childhood Obesity |
More than 1 in 5 fifth graders across most Central Valley counties are overweight or obese.
|
| Food Insecurity |
Approximately 1 in 4 Central Valley children are food insecure.
|
| Maternal and Infant Health |
Central Valley counties have some of the highest rates in California of babies born prematurely, babies born at low birth weight and infants who die before the age of one.
|
| Mental Health |
Approximately 1 in 3 Central Valley ninth graders reported experiencing depression-related feelings.
|
| Poverty |
In many counties across the Central Valley, 1 in 3 children are living in poverty.
|
| Unintentional Injuries |
Injury is the leading cause of death in children and young adults and injuries are a major source of childhood emergency department and hospital admissions.
|