May is for Miracles: Sparrow Children’s Center’s partnership with UM-Health

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - It’s a partnership that Sparrow staff say has only done good for the hospital and the community it serves.

“Michigan Medicine is overloaded with patients, and their physical space is limited,” said Dr. Steven Martin, Sparrow Pediatrics. “And so, it made sense that we partner with them to try to keep care local for the children of mid-Michigan.” An extension of Sparrow Pediatrics for about four years, University of Michigan Health helped to expand the services available to Greater Lansing families.

As the partnership continues to grow, so will opportunities for stronger care.

“We have now had multiple other sub-specialties coming down, which we think is really great, and I think that this merger will only continue to add more and more specialties that will come and provide care more locally,” said Dr. Erin Perrone, Pediatric Surgeon.

University of Michigan Health at Sparrow Children’s Center is the most well-known result of the U-M, Sparrow partnership.

Pediatric faculty say the facility acts as an accessible place for children to get the life-saving care they need without burdening their families.

“They can go down to Ann Arbor for their surgical intervention, but then all of their post-op care for their medication, pain management and monitoring after surgery can be done back here in town,” said Dr. Martin. “So the time that the family has to spend away, out of town, is minimized, but they still have access to that world-class care.”

Though Sparrow and UM-Health have already made many strides, providers from both institutions say with continued support from their communities, the possibilities for the future are endless.

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