OAHHS Fall/Winter 2018

24 » A magazine for and about Oregon Community Hospitals. HOSPITAL SPOTLIGHTS, CONT. PeaceHealth RiverBend  PEACEHEALTH RIVERBEND EVOLVING INTO REGIONAL PEDIATRICS HUB WITH NEW HEARTFELT HOUSE In February 2019, the 20-room Heartfelt House will open on the PeaceHealth RiverBend campus, providing the families of young patients from beyond the immediate Eugene-Springfield area with tranquil, no-cost accommodations. The new facility will be operated by Ronald McDonald Charities, and will also provide rooms to the families of adult patients for a sliding-scale charge. “The Heartfelt House will be a huge benefit to so many of our patients and their families,” said Garret Zallen, MD, the first of three pediatric surgeons to join PeaceHealth since RiverBend opened in 2008. “It really will fill a crucial gap in our ability to provide access and comprehensive care to children in the Willamette Valley and our southern Oregon and coastal communities.” Dr. Zallen’s arrival in 2012 helped launch RiverBend’s evolution into a regional hub for pediatric care. He came to PeaceHealth from Oregon Health & Science University, a renowned center for pediatric care, because he recognized the southern Willamette Valley’s critical need for more specialized, comprehensive services for children. “I really felt there was an urgent need,” he said. “It wasn’t fair that families in our area had to deal with so many scheduling difficulties, long travel times, and high associated costs just to get appropriate care for their children.” The list of RiverBend’s expanded pediatric offerings is long and growing. Among them: Pediatric surgery. Two additional, board-certified pediatric surgeons, as well as a pediatric physician assistant and nurse practitioner, have joined Dr. Zallen’s team. Their areas of expertise include chest wall deformities, hernias, tumors, and congenital anomalies—in most cases, conditions that previously would have required care unavailable in Oregon outside of Portland. Last year