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June 1st marks one year since we opened our new Lakewood office and what a year it’s been!
In the last 12 months, our Lakewood team successfully established the medical practice and exceeded our expectations – providing medical and support services to over 1,200 children at over 2,800 medical visits.
One of them is 9-month old Eva Sandoval.
Eva’s mother, Brittany Sandoval, said she found the Every Child Pediatrics Lakewood office through a Google search. The young mother from Wheat Ridge said she liked what she read on our website and made an appointment for her daughter. In February 2019, Brittany brought her daughter for a check up with Dr. Jennifer Burns and said she was very happy with the office.
“You have good doctors. Everyone is nice and you do everything you guys are supposed to do,” Brittany said. “It’s good that you guys take Medicaid.”
On the same day that we opened the Lakewood office, we also changed our name to Every Child Pediatrics. These two milestones marked the start of a new chapter for our nonprofit organization. A phrase that we often use is “every child deserves high-quality health care” – and that remains the foundation for our work.
It’s heartening to see our mission come to life in this new office and across all of our sites. Our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable and accessible health care to Colorado children, regardless of insurance or ability to pay. We chose to expand to the Lakewood community because we saw a need for affordable pediatric care in that area, particularly among low-income families. Based on the patients served in the first year, our estimates proved to be on target—63% of our patients were covered by Medicaid and CHP+ and 20% were uninsured at the time of their visit.
I’m proud of our staff and what we’ve been able to achieve in Lakewood over the past year. We’ve taken care of infants and children by treating their illnesses, managing their chronic conditions and keeping them up to date with immunizations and preventive care. We’ve also been able to provide our comprehensive model of care – delivering 147 nutrition visits, 70 Care Navigation visits and 118 Behavioral Health Counseling sessions. We are grateful to the Jefferson Center for their partnership in providing a Behavioral Health Counselor for our Lakewood patients. And we are seeking support to hire another counselor to offer preventive behavioral health services and expand dental services down the road.
I want to thank our community and foundation partners for their generous support in launching our Lakewood office. Caring for Colorado Foundation, Colorado Community Health Alliance, Rose Community Foundation and Gary Chapman/Silent Partner Grant provided critical financial support to open this office.
Most of all, I want to thank our amazing staff. They are the heart of Every Child Pediatrics and the reason why we continue to grow and serve more children each day.
Thank you for an amazing first year. As one in five of our Lakewood patients are uninsured, we continue to seek outside support to cover our costs. A $300 gift covers the cost of care to one uninsured patient a year. We appreciate any contribution you can make. Donate today at www.everychildpediatrics.org/donate.
– Jessica Dunbar, Executive Director, Every Child Pediatrics
