BURBANK : Child Clinic Offers Late-Night Service

It’s 10 p.m. and the kids feel feverish. They’re turning a sickly shade of green. You suspect food poisoning from those unsavory ballpark hot dogs they chowed down on at the game. What do you do?

Take them to the new Pediatric After-Hours Referral Clinic in Burbank. There, board-certified pediatricians from St. Joseph Medical Center and Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles have formed a unique cooperative network to provide full-service after-hours pediatric care.

The clinic is located on the first floor of the Robertson Tower at St. Joseph Medical Center, 501 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank. The clinic, which opened last Monday, has treated a steady stream of ill children already, said Stephanie Dean, a spokeswoman for the medical center.

The program operates Mondays through Fridays from 6 p.m. to midnight. On weekends and holidays the center is open from 10 a.m. to midnight.

The clinic is designed for routine pediatric care only, and patients must be referred there by a pediatrician, family physician or emergency room physician.

“This is not an emergency clinic--you can’t take your kids there to get stitches, for instance,” Dean said. “It’s designed to assist working parents who might not have the chance to bring their child to the doctor during the day.”

The clinic is staffed at all times by at least one physician and a nurse. An after-hours phone call to the clinic will enable parents to preregister for an appointment. After the child is seen, a record of the visit is sent to the child’s physician.

For more information or to register for an appointment, call (818) 840-7902.