A Growth Spurt at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Jonesboro Clinic

When children suddenly grow taller, it’s called a growth spurt. When the Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH) Jonesboro Clinic grows quickly, we call it – keeping our commitment to the children of northeast Arkansas. The ACH Jonesboro Clinic recently added three more full-time health care providers to its staff, so pediatric patients and their caregivers can spend less time on the road and more time getting the high-quality care they deserve.

Meet the newest full-time additions to the team on Carson Street:

• Sulaiman Bharwani, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist at Arkansas Children’s and professor of pediatrics in the division of gastroenterology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
• Kellie Lisenby, A.P.R.N, pediatric surgery
• Sam Middleton, A.P.R.N, endocrinology clinic

These are familiar faces at the ACH Jonesboro Clinic. Most have been seeing patients with specialty needs during visits to the clinic once or twice a month.

What do these new team members mean for patients in northeast Arkansas needing specialty care? Less time waiting and less time driving.

Middleton, who sees patients with diabetes for regular follow-up appointments, said, “Parents are so excited. Before, they would have to take a whole day off of work. Now, it's half a day, or even just an hour.”

Lisenby transitioned to the ACH Jonesboro Clinic full-time in May to give patients the option of getting their surgical evaluations or post-operative follow-up care without driving to Little Rock. To maximize the number of patients she’d be able to care for in Jonesboro, Lisenby said, “I shadowed APRNs from urology, orthopedics, plastics and neurosurgery.”

Having a range of experience with various specialties is a common characteristic for all team members at the ACH Jonesboro Clinic. They’ve got a “can do” attitude when supporting each other and their patients. Bharwani said it was one of the reasons he made the transition. “Being full-time gives me the opportunity to build rapport with my work family in the clinic and the patients in the community.”

With the new additions to the team, full-time services at the ACH Jonesboro Clinic include:

• Audiology
• Cardiology
• Endocrinology/Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Pulmonology
• Surgical evaluation and rehabilitation

The ACH Jonesboro Clinic also has full-time technicians for administering:

• ultrasounds
• electroencephalograms (EEGs)
• echocardiograms
• electrocardiograms (EKGs)
• Holter monitors
  
  

Specialists from Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock regularly visit to see patients for:

• Adult congenital heart disease follow-ups
• Developmental rehab
• Genetics screening
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Newborn Clinic
• Orthopedics
• Plastic Surgery
• Spinal cord disorders
• Urology
  
  

Increasing access to specialty care in northeast Arkansas is part of Arkansas Children’s 60-mile commitment to ensure every child in the state has access to high-quality health care within 60 miles of their home.