St. Christopher's Hospital for Children Expands Pediatric Sleep Center

St. Christopher's Hospital for Children recently expanded its pediatric Sleep Center to meet the area's growing demand for children's sleep services. The Center, which started in 2003 as a two-bed lab, now has a dedicated space that includes a waiting area, observation room, and four private bedrooms  each with state-of-the-art equipment that allows for a complete array of sleep testing.

"In the past couple of years, we have seen a rapid increase in the number of children with sleep issues," says Dr. Danna Tauber, pulmonologist and medical director of the Sleep Center at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. "To accommodate the growing needs of the children we serve, we've expanded to include additional beds, more testing equipment and longer operating hours."

The new facility also has a family centered focus. Bedrooms have a home-like setting, with semi-private bathrooms, television and DVD capabilities, and child-friendly amenities. Each bedroom also has a sleeper bed for parents.

"We understand that it can be upsetting for a child to sleep in an unfamiliar bed with wires connected to them," says Tauber. "We also understand the desire for parents to stay with their children while they undergo testing. That's why each bedroom includes a sleeper bed for a parent. This alleviates any separation anxiety that children and parents may have; making testing less stressful.

Additional amenities have been included to make the experience positive. Complimentary breakfast is provided to families, along with free parking and free toiletries. Families are also personally escorted upon arrival and departure.
Because children's sleep issues can be serious, Tauber says it's important that parents are able to focus completely on their child.

Some of the patients we treat are toddlers who have enlarged tonsils or may breathe through their mouths - causing them to snore and stop breathing. Others are adolescents and teens who suffer from the inability to fall asleep or stay awake because their sleep cycle is off. We also treat children who have sleep issues as a result of another condition - such as obesity, Down syndrome, lung disease, seizure disorders and congenital malformations of the face.

The Sleep Center is fully staffed with technical, clinical and administrative personnel. Both a pulmonologist and a neurologist work together to evaluate the results of all sleep studies and to create a plan of care for each child.

The Sleep Center at St. Christopher's was recently named a "Center of Excellence" by Philadelphia magazine and is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

St. Christopher's Hospital for Children is a 171-bed pediatric hospital dedicated to the physical and emotional well-being of children located in Philadelphia. A leader in pediatric care since 1875, St. Christopher's nationally recognized programs provide exceptional care to children from throughout the Greater Philadelphia area and around the world. Through academic affiliations with Drexel University College of Medicine and Temple University School of Medicine, the hospital's 270 leading pediatric specialists offer clinical expertise in a wide range of advanced pediatric specialties.

St. Christopher's has a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and its Burn Center is the only dedicated pediatric burn center in the Philadelphia area. In addition, its Sleep program is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. St. Christopher's Cystic Fibrosis Center is accredited as a Care Center by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the hospital has one of only ten sickle cell programs in the country that has earned the designation as a Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center by the National Institutes of Health.  St. Christopher's Hospital for Children is part of the Tenet Health System.