Introduction from System Chief Robert Stavis, MD

Children are a special joy—and at Main Line Health, they and their families receive very special treatment. We have the privilege of caring for our community’s infants, children and adolescents, and we honor this privilege with a commitment to serving each patient, and each family, with unparalleled professional expertise, sensitivity to family concerns, and genuine kindness and compassion.

Main Line Health physicians and specialists care for more than 100,000 of our community’s youngest members, from birth, throughout childhood and into the teenage years.

Our broad network of private practice physicians works to keep children healthy and to help them through the bumps, bruises, and common illnesses of childhood. When a child needs specialty care, our partnership with the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, called the Bryn Mawr Hospital/duPont Children’s Health Program, gives our patients a direct connection to the region’s most respected pediatric specialists and surgeons.

Sometimes a child’s illness may require an in-patient stay. Through Bryn Mawr Hospital, Main Line Health offers one of the area’s only facilities for in-patient pediatric care. Every year, close to 800 children are treated at Bryn Mawr. Here, parents can stay in their child’s room, families receive the support they need to understand and cope, and our patients are cared for by pediatric surgeons, radiologists, anesthesiologists and other professionals whose medical expertise is focused on the special needs of children.

New beginnings are nurtured through Main Line Health’s capabilities for newborns and moms. Every year, close to 5,000 new members of our community greet the world in the nurseries of Paoli, Lankenau and Bryn Mawr hospitals. At these hospitals, our outstanding professional staff partners work with private practice physicians to give babies and their families the healthiest possible start on life.

For babies who are experiencing difficulty, Bryn Mawr and Lankenau Hospitals’ Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) provide tender, loving, expert care. Full-service, Level III NICU facilities at Bryn Mawr and Lankenau Hospitals help premature babies gain strength. For babies suffering with infections, respiratory difficulties, or congenital or neurological problems, the NICU staff provides expert medical treatment, as well as compassionate family support.

Whatever the problem, Main Line Health pediatric professionals know that the illness of a child affects everyone in the family. We also know that a big part of comfort is understanding, so in addition to providing support and counseling, we always keep lines of communication open, and continually look for new ways to communicate with patients and parents. For example, we recently implemented a NICU email system that provides new parents with a daily update on their infant’s progress—written in their baby’s “own words.”

As members of the local community, Main Line Health pediatric professionals live in the same neighborhoods as the patients we treat. We share the concerns and issues that go hand in hand with raising children, as well as the difficulties, and joys, of shepherding them through life’s ups and downs. We are proud of the role we play in keeping our children healthy—and invite you to rely on us anytime your child becomes ill, or whenever you have questions or concerns.

Robert L. Stavis, PhD, MD
System Chief, Pediatrics
Main Line Health