On any given day, approximately 150 children come through the doors of Surrey Memorial Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Department. During the busy winter season, that number can climb to more than 200.
For Dr. Navid Dehghani, Pediatric Emergency Physician and Department Head, each visit is more than just a number. It is a child who needs specialized care and a family searching for answers during a stressful and uncertain time. And from the moment his shift begins, there is no way to predict exactly what the day will bring.
Dr. Dehghani has worked in Surrey Memorial’s Pediatric Emergency Department since 2014. Over the past 12 years, he has watched both Surrey’s population and the demand for pediatric emergency care grow significantly.
When he first joined the department, the team typically cared for about 80 to 100 children each day. Today, the Pediatric Emergency Department sees over 55,000 children annually, and that number continues to grow by six per cent each year.
All those children are cared for in a department with just 12 beds.
That reality shapes nearly every part of Dr. Dehghani’s day and raises an important question: How can we continue to provide exceptional care to a growing number of children and families?
No Two Shifts Look the Same
There is no typical day in pediatric emergency medicine. During a single shift, Dr. Dehghani and his colleagues may care for an infant struggling to breathe, a child with a complex medical condition, a child with an e-scooter head injury, or a teenager experiencing a mental health emergency.
Families seek medical care for different reasons, but many turn to Surrey Memorial Hospital because it is home to B.C.’s only dedicated pediatric emergency department within a general hospital.
Our hospital is also a regional centre for children and youth, with families from Surrey and across the South Fraser region relying on specialized services including:
- Family Birthing Unit
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
- Children’s Health Centre
- Pediatric Emergency Department
- Pediatric Oncology Services
- Pediatric Mental Health Programs
The Pediatric Emergency Department was built with the capacity and resources to serve residents of Surrey, and while many patients come from Surrey, families also travel from Langley, Mission, Delta, Abbotsford and the Tri-Cities, as well as from communities as far away as Chilliwack, Hope, East Vancouver and the North Shore.
For some families, getting to the hospital is only part of the challenge. Many are newcomers to Canada who may be learning how to navigate a new health care system, facing language barriers or still searching for a primary care provider.
Children Need Care Designed for Children
For Dr. Dehghani, improving pediatric emergency care is not simply about working faster. It is about finding better ways to deliver the best possible care for every child.
One of the most important things he wants people to understand about pediatric medicine is simple:
“Children are not small adults.”
From birth through adolescence, children are constantly growing and developing. Their bodies function differently from those of adults and their medical needs can change significantly depending on their age and stage of development.
A normal heart rate for a newborn, for example, can look very different from a normal heart rate for a teenager. Blood pressure, breathing patterns, anatomy and responses to illness can also vary considerably.
Those differences are why specialized medical equipment, pediatric-focused research and ongoing education and training are so important. The tools used to assess and treat children need to account for their smaller bodies and changing needs. At the same time, research and innovation help our health care teams identify better approaches to pediatric care and apply those improvements directly in clinical settings.
For a department caring for many children each year, those advances can make a meaningful difference. Better equipment can support faster and more accurate diagnosis and treatment. Research can help teams refine how care is delivered. Quality improvement projects can identify gaps and help improve efficiency and patient flow within the limited space of our busy Pediatric Emergency Department. And ongoing education can help ensure clinicians are prepared for the wide range of situations they may encounter in a single shift.
For Dr. Dehghani, the importance of that care becomes even more meaningful when he thinks about how much life lies ahead for each young patient. A child cared for today has an entire future ahead of them. They may grow up to become a parent, a doctor, an astronaut, a teacher, or something no one has imagined yet. That possibility is part of what continues to motivate him.
“When you help a newborn or an infant who is only a few months old, you are saving so many years of life,” says Dr. Dehghani. “The care you provide to that child can have an impact for decades and carry through generations.”
That is why investing in pediatric health care is so important. A child’s time in our hospital may be brief, but the impact of the care they receive can last far beyond that moment.
Every Child Deserves the Best Care, Close to Home
With your support, more young patients can receive the care they need to recover and return to the moments that make childhood special, like going back to school, playing their favourite sport, spending time with friends and dreaming about what they are going to be when they grow up.
Your generosity helps make specialized pediatric care possible by putting the latest medical equipment in the hands of our care teams and advancing programs designed specifically for children and youth.
Together, we can be here for every child and family who needs us.
Give today: www.surreyhospitalsfoundation.com/our-campaigns/children/
