ATLANTA— State Representative Margaret Kaiser (D-Atlanta), along with members of the Joint Study on Prescription of Medical Cannabis for Serious Medical Conditions, recently toured the Children’s Hospital of Georgia in Augusta. Members of the Joint Study on Prescription of Medical Cannabis for Serious Medical Conditions were also in Augusta for the committee’s fourth meeting to hear from the medical community.
“Touring the Children’s Hospital in Augusta was not only interesting to me as a member of the study committee on medical cannabis, but also as a member of the House committee on Health and Human Services,” said Rep. Kaiser. “We spoke with Don Hamilton, the epilepsy monitoring unit manager, who told us that they are seeing higher mortality rates in those with intractable seizures, and that the epilepsy cases that they treat are worse now than ever before. I think this tour provided very valuable information to all of us on the study committee as we prepare for the 2015 session.”
Prior to their committee meeting, Rep. Kaiser and others visited the Georgia Regents Medical Center, where the Children’s Hospital of Georgia is housed. The committee toured the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit within the Children’s Hospital, which treats patients with all spectrums of epilepsy and all ages. Committee members met briefly with Dr. Yong Park, a neurologist, and principal investigator for Georgia Regents’ Epidiolex trials. Dr. Park also testified in front of the committee at its hearing.
The Children’s Medical Center has an emergency room, operating suite, admissions process, laboratories and parking. A 16-bed pediatric intensive care unit and 88 medical/surgical beds are designed for the developmental age of the child, and include an infant and toddler unit, school-age unit and adolescent unit. The children’s hospital is connected floor-by-floor to the Georgia Regents Medical Center Hospital and Clinics, where other pediatric services are located including outpatient facilities, including a 36-bed neonatal intensive care unit, a 14-bed child psychiatry unit and a 16-bed perinatal intensive care unit. This brings the total number of beds to 154. In addition, the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, or CHOG, connects to the five-story Georgia Regents Medical Office Building, where most general, specialty and subspecialty clinics for pediatric patients are located on the third floor.
For more information on the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, please click here.
Representative Margaret Kaiser represents the citizens of District 59, which includes portions of Fulton County. She was elected into the House of Representatives in 2006, and currently serves on the Agriculture & Consumer Affairs, Appropriations, Education, and Health & Human Services committees.
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