Grosse Pointe offers emergency department dedicated to children's care

Ascension St. John Children’s Hospital cares for nearly 15,000 children with emergency needs annually. To continue to meet the needs of Grosse Pointe and its surrounding communities for pediatric emergency care, the newly dedicated Shery L. Cotton Pediatric Emergency Department will open this fall. 

Having a dedicated pediatric emergency department will allow Ascension St. John Children's Hospital care teams to continue to provide personalized, compassionate pediatric emergency care close to home, when you need it. 

 “We have recognized the importance of providing a healing environment where young children and their families do not have to experience the same levels of stress found in a typical adult trauma emergency room,” Marcus DeGraw, MD, chief of pediatrics at Ascension St. John Children's Hospital located at Ascension St. John Hospital. 

Dr. DeGraw believes emergency rooms can be scary for families and children. It is an experience Ashley, a mom of two from Roseville, was concerned about when she took her toddler son to the emergency room for a head injury. “After he was triaged, we were escorted to a separate pediatric waiting area which was less active and allowed us both to settle ourselves and focus on him feeling better.”

That’s why the new Level II pediatric emergency department will be completely separate from Ascension St. John’s Level I adult trauma emergency center. It will have its own entrance, waiting room and treatment areas to help enhance privacy, comfort and wait times for young patients and their families. 

 “The benefit of a dedicated space for pediatrics is that everything is designed with our youngest, smallest patients in mind. We have all the necessary equipment and specialized pediatric staff to best care for the unique needs of our pediatric population,” Dr. DeGraw said.

Board-certified pediatric emergency medicine and child-life specialists along with specially trained pediatric nurses are – and will continue to be – available 24/7. The emergency care teams will take care of sick and injured children with a host of pediatric conditions on an emergency basis ranging from minor illnesses and broken bones to those with the most serious conditions. 

“I’m grateful for the Ascension St. John Children’s Hospital pediatric emergency care team. Having that clinical expertise so close to where we live is invaluable,” Ashley said. “And their immediate focus on my son’s injury helped eliminate my worry and we were allowed to go home the same day.”

Learn more Ascension St.John Children’s Hospital emergency care at ascension.org/MICare