Mercy Health  Lorain will partner with Akron Children’s Hospital to improve access on a range of pediatric health care services in Lorain and Oberlin.
  
The two hospital systems have affiliated with the shared goals of improving child health and offering families greater access to high quality, cost-effective pediatric services. Both organizations will work collaboratively to further Mercy Health  Lorain’s focus on delivering high-quality, compassionate and expert care from birth through adulthood. 

Plans call for Akron Children’s to assume operations at three existing Mercy Health pediatric primary care offices, including at the Chuang Medical Center in Oberlin, the Bitar Medical Center on Oak Point Road and in the Lorain Hospital Medical Office Building on Kolbe Road in early 2021. 

Akron Children’s will also offer physician specialty services in Lorain, including pediatric cardiology. Akron Children’s plans to add other specialties, including pediatric gastroenterology and maternal fetal medicine, in the near future. 

“We have been fortunate at Mercy Health to provide highly specialized care for newborns at our Level II special care nursery,” said Dr. Marcietta Wilson-Coleman, OB/GYN at Mercy Health  Lorain. “With this affiliation we will be able to intervene during a mother’s pregnancy, if needed, further emphasizing our ability to foster healthy newborns.”

In addition to primary and specialty care, Akron Children’s will provide its extensive expertise in pediatric emergency medical care at Mercy  Lorain Hospital in order to enhance the care provided to children with medical emergencies. Akron Children’s is expected to begin offering its services in three to four months.
 
“Introducing Akron Children’s Hospital to parents and children in Lorain County is truly impactful,” said Dr. Khalid Akbar, pediatrician at Mercy Health  Lorain. “Our parents, who have trusted us for years in caring for their children, now have the ability to access new levels of care right here at home with help from the same providers and staff they know and love.” 

“This is not only a milestone for our health systems, but one for our entire community,” said Edwin Oley, market president at Mercy Health  Lorain. “In today’s changing health care environment, Mercy Health is proud to be able to further invest in access to some of the most highly specialized pediatric care here within Lorain County,” he added.

“Akron Children’s has provided exceptional pediatric care to children in Northeast Ohio for 130 years, and we’re happy to soon bring our services to families in Lorain County,” said Shawn Lyden, chief strategy officer at Akron Children’s. “Our providers look forward to helping families find the highly specialized, quality care their children need close to home.”