Ascension St. John Closing Pediatric Intensive Care Unit To Expand Adult ICU

Ascension Saint John will be closing its 22-bed unit that treats children in less than three months.

The hospital has decided to invest millions in more adult ICU space.

However, some people are worried they may have to take their children out of state, since there will be only one pediatric unit left in Tulsa.

A doctor in Muskogee said he sends nearly all of the kids needing a hospital to St. John. He said many rural communities rely on St. John - and the lack of pediatric care in Oklahoma is already bad enough.

Donisha Gillespie is a mother of two boys - RJ is 12 and Kam is two years old. RJ and Kam were both born prematurely.

"I've been through so much with my husband and I both," said Gillespie.

Donisha said RJ spent time in the Pediatric ICU at St. John.

Kam spent months in the hospital and St. John needed to transfer him in 2019, but there weren't beds available at nearby hospitals.

She was afraid she would have to move to Missouri or Texas to be with Kam.

"At this time, St. Francis was full, Oklahoma City was full," said Gillespie.

Eventually a bed at St. Francis opened up, but Donisha said without both hospitals, she wouldn't have known what to do.

"It's really disheartening to find out St. John is shutting down the pediatric unit," said Dr. Michael Stratton.

Dr. Michael Stratton has been a pediatrician for a few decades and works at Children's Clinic in Muskogee.

He said he transfers about three kids a week to St. John and it's a simple, easy process.

"The communication is great, there is no hassle, and they keep in contact with us," Dr. Stratton said.

St. John said, in a statement, it is investing $27 million to expand its adult ICU capacity.

It will close its pediatric ICU and pediatric inpatient unit on April 30, after doing a community needs assessment.

A doctor at St. John said there are 22 beds and up to eight are for the PICU.

St. John averages about 100 pediatric patients per month.

"I would hope they would keep it open," Gillespie said. "From my experience, pediatric care is hurting in the state."

St. Francis will be the only hospital with a PICU in Tulsa.

St. Francis made a full statement, saying, "The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis sincerely thanks the pediatric staff and physicians at Ascension St. John for the many years of care and comfort they have provided to so many injured and ill children in our region. As the region’s only children’s hospital, with the highest level of pediatric and neonatal intensive care, Saint Francis will work to coordinate any transfers of care as needed to ensure patients continue to receive high quality care close to home."

St. John made a full statement, saying, "Ascension St. John Medical Center recently announced our plan to invest $27M to expand adult ICU capacity over the next two and a half years, which is expected to place ASJMC at the forefront of regional, critical care access. In order to accommodate the additional adult critical-care capacity, we announced our plan to close our pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and general pediatric inpatient unit effective April 30, 2022. This decision was based on both a community needs assessment along with a thoughtful analysis of services already being offered in the community. There will be no interruption to our current pediatric ambulatory or surgical services, nor any interruption to our neonatal intensive care (NICU) services."