[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by sue503

Thank you Travelassie for all of the great information. This will help us make a decision on where to move to.

My pleasure. Hope you're successful in your search for your new home.

[LeeMemorial]

Hi Sue,

Saw your post regarding children's hospitals. Just thought you might want to know that the Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida has been in existence for 20 years. We are under construction on a new hospital that will be completed in 2017. We employ over 30 pediatric specialists and have a strong relationship with Miami Children's Hospital who consult with us on some cases in order to limit travel for kids and their families.

If you'd like more information on the hospital please call 239-343-KIDS.


Best of luck with your relocation.

[Rabflmom]

One of my nephews was born with spinafida. He is up North; but I looked into hospitals in Florida for them. Arnold Palmer in Orlando seems to be a pretty good hospital. They have specialists and a spinabifida clinic. Enough so that I began volunteering for the Bay Hill Golf tournament that benefits the hospital and Winnie Palmer women and children's hospital too.

It is amazing how far they have come helping kids with spinabifida. My nephew is 7 and has not had to have surgery since he was a baby since the shunt grows with them. He uses crutches still, but has taken a few steps on his own, now. Unfortunately he had a teacher (public school regular class) that decided he needed to use a wheel chair in her class this year. He has never had one. Not going to happen.

He played t-ball last summer and can run as fast as anyone on those crutches! His goal in life right now is to play baseball on TV.

Also when you get here and if the family is into watersports, look into a local company here on the coast...... Liquid Accesss..... that makes aquatic equipment for people who have no or limited use of their legs.

[sue503]

Rabflmom, thank you for the information on Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando. I've been reading on their web-site and they seem to have exactly what my grandson needs. They have a team to serve the needs of spina bifida children. Sorry it's been awhile since I have posted. My grandson has been in the hospital twice since he was born in January and we are on our third stay right now. Was wondering, noticed from another post that you are located in Palm Bay if I remember correctly. Do you know how the medical care is in your area? How difficult would the drive to Arnold Palmer be from your area. We are still researching and Palm Bay/ Melbourne has come up on our radar of area's to check. We really do love Jensen Beach Area but think maybe we need to consider up the coast closer to Arnold Palmer.

Thank you for posting about your nephew; it's encouraging to hear successful stories. Hope he is doing well.

Thank you for any other information that you think would be helpful to us while making this decision.

[kyle19125]

If you like Jensen Beach I would recommend checking out Melbourne Beach and Indialantic which are in many ways similar to Jensen Beach and an easy drive to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. At worst I would say it's a 90 minute drive.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by needing more

I have no experience with spina bifida but I have had surgery in Miami at their Bascom Palmer Eye Center. Its #1 in the WORLD! They are top notch Drs in Miami. One thing I will say is its not an easy trip. Especially if you were to drive from Jensen Beach. I'm not sure how often he would need to be seen at the Drs. But 125 miles can easily be a 3-4 hr trip with traffic. I spent 12 weeks at my moms 36 miles north of my Drs office in Miami and it would take us an hour to an hour and 15 mins most days. She is 1hrs 10 mins south of Jensen Beach. Add in the traffic... It might be a horrible trip to make in a day. We are planning the move to Fl soon as well (Coming from Michigan) so I'm in a similar situation. I can not stand the concrete jungle of south florida.. Its too congested for me. Jensen Beach is a nice alternative for sure.

Good Luck on your search!

Bascom Palmer almost cost me my vision. The Chief of XXXXX there was trying to get me to allow him to perform a procedure and made it seem like it was an emergent situation. He got offended and walked out when I said I wanted to get a second opinion.

It turns out that his suggested surgical technique was not the tried and true procedure to treat my condition. My bone structure is far too small to be able to perform that procedure as he wanted to and I likely would have lost my vision and also needed reconstructive surgery.

I went and saw two of the top surgeons in the US for my condition at Wills and Jules Stein that both agreed that A. there was no emergency, and B. the technique he proposed was crazy given my specifics. It's a year later and I still haven't had the surgery as my condition is stable and not affecting my vision. I am being monitored by a local opthamologist/surgeon.

I would never recommend Bascom Palmer. On top of it the place is a zoo, it was not clean, and there were numerous examples of HIPAA violations occurring while I was there.

The only reason it's #1 is either they treat a lot more indigents to boost their numbers or someone is paying off someone.

[sue503]

Thank you kyle19125 I was wondering about the drive from there. I have heard many good things about that area.