Kids Getting Emergent Care They Need, Thanks to Community Support

Nearly one year ago, staff members in the Pediatric Emergency & Inpatient Department at GBMC began seeing significant surges in respiratory illnesses. Where a typical season for RSV and rhinovirus is November to March, the Pediatric ED caregivers were seeing illness peaks throughout summer 2022.

Children in distress and their worried parents were arriving at GBMC’s Pediatric ED in record numbers. After two years of pandemic staffing losses, the team was overwhelmed. Every pediatric bed was in use.

A shortage of beds for young patients across the region meant children who needed higher levels of care, including those with behavioral health needs, sometimes remained in an ED bed for weeks or months, while clinical staff members spent time on the phone, rather than bedside, in search of more appropriate placements.

The waiting room filled. Triage nurses were busy. Both the volume and acuity of cases caused unusually long wait times for families and shined a bright spotlight on the lack of resources to address the need.

GBMC did what it always does—stepped up to continue to meet the need and turned to its loyal community for partnership. Longtime donors and young parents alike rose to the challenge, spreading the word about the crisis and supporting Pediatric Emergency and Inpatient services with donations.

Thanks to its generous supporters, GBMC exceeded its initial fundraising goal of $1.2 million to help offset departmental losses. Additionally, the Ruth Carol Fund stepped forward with a $2 million gift to create an endowment to help sustain these services well into the future.

GBMC provides Baltimore County's only fully supported Pediatric ED, staffed 24/7 with clinicians prepared to treat the needs of children. Sustaining GBMC's Pediatric Emergency & Inpatient Department is central to GBMC's mission. The events of the past year have pointed out the importance of expanding the unit to continue to meet the needs of the community we serve.

In addition to garnering support for the Pediatric Emergency & Inpatient Department at GBMC to cover operational expenses and to grow the endowment, leaders have been studying patient volumes and flow to make necessary staffing adjustments and develop a plan for strategic and efficient growth.

A review of GBMC's master facilities plan will include an expansion of the Pediatric Emergency & Inpatient Department footprint. In the next three to five years, the plan will support the growing needs of the community and the team.

GBMC is unwavering in its commitment to pediatric services that meet the vision of providing the care we would want for our own loved ones. Community support will continue to be vital to ensuring the future of the Pediatric Emergency & Inpatient Department.

Together, Baltimore County children facing a medical crisis can turn to an expert team equipped to care for them, every day, at any time.