Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital holds ribbon-cutting ceremony for new pediatric specialty center in New London

Pictured L-R: Kim Trotta, Patient Services Manager, Pediatric Specialty Center, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital; Jason Malia, MHA, BSN, RN, Executive Director,  Specialty Network and Procedural Services, Yale New Haven Children's Hospital; Anthony Porto, MD, Medical Director, Pediatrics, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital; Cynthia Sparer, Executive Director, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital ; Executive Vice President, Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS), president of Ambulatory Services, YNHHS; Oliver Mayorga, MD, chief medical officer, Lawrence + Memorial (L+M) Hospital; Fred Santoro, MD, Chief of Pediatrics, L+M Hospital; and Lynne Sherman, MHA, RN, Vice President, Patient Services, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.

New London, CT (June 28, 2023) – Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday to open a new YNHCH Pediatric Specialty Center at Shaws Cove along with leaders from Lawrence + Memorial Hospital (L+M). The center will begin seeing patients on July 6.

Approximately 70 people gathered at 3 Shaws Cove in New London to celebrate the opening of the center, one of eight in Connecticut and the first in New London County. The center represents the latest advance by Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital and Lawrence + Memorial Hospital to enhance children’s health care in the region. YNHCH is the #1 ranked children’s hospital in Connecticut by U.S. News and World Report.

The YNHCH Pediatric Specialty Center provides patients, families and referring providers with access to leading specialists in allergy/immunology, endocrinology and gastroenterology, with more to come in the near future. The center has 4 patient rooms, a procedure room and a child-friendly waiting room.

“The opening of this pediatric specialty center marks Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital’s first venture in New London and we couldn’t be more proud,” said Cynthia Sparer, executive vice president of Yale New Haven Health, president of Ambulatory Services, and executive director of Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. “The opening here today, means that families don’t have to travel far from home to access the resources of one of the country’s leading children’s hospitals – and just announced last week by U.S. News and World Report, the number one children’s hospital in the state. At Shaws Cove, we offer specialty care locally and in partnership with Lawrence + Memorial Hospital for the range of diagnostic and therapeutic services that children may need."

“One of the many great benefits of our affiliation with Yale New Haven Health has been the ability to bring pediatric specialists to New London,” said Oliver Mayorga, MD, chief medical officer at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. “This new Pediatric Specialty Center will greatly benefit our patients and families and referring providers in this region. This will make care more accessible and closer to home.

“The specialty pediatric services offered here at Shaws Cove complement the care that Lawrence+ Memorial Hospital provides to its newborn babies in the nursery and those seeking care in the pediatric emergency department,” said pediatrician Fred Santoro, MD. “L+M and local pediatricians will now have board-certified specialists to refer their patients – all within our community.”

The Pediatric Specialty Center is located next door to Northeast Medical Group’s (NEMG) Coastal Ob Gyn and Midwifery practice. Also nearby is NEMG’s Walk-In Medical Center at 195 Howard Street which provides non-emergency walk-in care to children and adults.

Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, a member of Yale New Haven Health, is a non-profit, 308-bed general and acute care hospital providing patient care to medical, surgical, pediatric, psychiatric and obstetrical patients in southeastern Connecticut and southern Rhode Island since 1912. Lawrence + Memorial offers cardiac acute, step-down and rehabilitation programs and is the only eastern Connecticut hospital that performs emergency and elective angioplasty. www.lmhospital.org

Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH) offers Connecticut’s largest and most comprehensive array of pediatric services. With 208 licensed beds, YNHCH includes two neonatal intensive care units, a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit, a pediatric intensive care unit, a pediatric psychiatry unit, an adolescent psychiatry unit, 24-hour Level 1 Pediatric Emergency Trauma Center and a pediatric surgery center. YNHCH, with campuses in New Haven and Bridgeport, is part of the nationally recognized Yale New Haven Hospital, a 1,541-bed not-for-profit teaching hospital affiliated with Yale School of Medicine. The Yale New Haven Hospital campuses and associated ambulatory sites are Magnet-designated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. In addition to its inpatient units, YNHCH has three Pediatric Specialty Centers in New Haven and others in Greenwich, New London, Norwalk, Old Saybrook and Trumbull to provide specialty care to children closer to their communities. www.ynhch.org