The Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers launched a neurosurgery program to help reduce the need to transfer children and infants to larger health centers, the Fort Myers News-Press reported Dec. 21.
The program was created in partnership with St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, which will provide outpatient care at its satellite facility in Fort Myers.
Neurosurgeon Theodore Spinks, MD, will lead Golisano's program. His team will focus on treating brain and spine conditions, including spina bifida, Chiari malformations and tethered-cord syndrome.
"We were transferring over 100 children a year out of the area for pediatric neurological services," Alyssa Bostwick, chief nursing and operations executive at Golisano, told the newspaper. "That meant a child on a helicopter and two parents in a vehicle over two hours away to get care."