New pediatric clinic aims to help preemies

By Jackie Valley

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Babies born prematurely face a host of possible setbacks: developmental disability, cognitive impairments, behavior problems and school failure. Intervention can help, if problems are caught early.

Staff at the Positively Kids Neopediatric Clinic aim to do exactly that — catch problems early and improve outcomes. The clinic, the first of its kind in Nevada, opened this month at 2480 E. Tompkins Ave., Las Vegas.

The Foundation for Positively Kids, a nonprofit that serves the community’s medically fragile children, partnered with Dr. Farooq Abdulla, a pediatrician and neonatologist, to open the 2,400-square-foot clinic in east Las Vegas. It’s called a neopediatric clinic because Abdulla will treat children of all ages but will focus on monitoring the growth and development of children who were born early. The clinic operates on a sliding-fee scale for children without insurance and accepts children covered by Medicaid.

Many neonatal intensive care units have follow-up programs for infants born before 32 weeks gestation, but there are few similar programs for moderately pre-term infants born between 32 and 37 weeks gestation, Abdulla said. He envisions his clinic filling that void.

“We need to make sure (pre-term infants) are getting adequate nutrition and they’re growing adequately,” he said. “That is the most important follow-up in these infants.”

Abdulla hopes such services result in pre-term infants being discharged from intensive care a few days earlier. The potential cost savings could be $2,000 to $3,000 per child, he said.

The program “will make the transition very easy” for parents as they bring their pre-tern infants home, Abdulla said.

Babies enrolled in the high-risk infant follow-up program will be monitored for their growth, neurologic status and development. For instance, if an infant isn’t learning to roll over, that might indicate developmental delays, which could be improved through early intervention.

The clinic features a breastfeeding room for mothers and colorful, kid-friendly examination rooms.

“We did these rooms on purpose this way because it’s not as intimidating,” said Fred Schultz, founder and CEO of the Foundation for Positively Kids.

Abdulla said he expects to see 20 to 30 children and babies each day when the clinic gets up to full speed.