Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center has become tightly woven into the fabric of community life in the South Bronx, aggressively tackling many important community health issues such as asthma, obesity, cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis. Since being founded in 1839, it has become known for innovative programs addressing the specific needs of the community it serves.

Early in 1999, Lincoln opened its new $2.2 million Children's Health Center, featuring 49 spacious examination rooms and equipped with the latest technology, it is designed to treat young people from birth to age 19. One very special feature of the new Center is its interactive Starbright World computer network, a program of the Starbright Foundation, that links chronically ill children in distant locations -- allowing young patients to meet and share thoughts with peers facing similar health problems.

Lincoln has the busiest single site Emergency Room in the region. Pediatric asthma patients receive immediate attention in the emergency room from Lincoln's expert medical staff. The Lincoln Asthma and Allergy Clinic provides an individualized, multidisciplinary approach to asthma and allergy management. This is an important service as the residents of South Bronx have the highest occurrence of asthma in New York City.

NEONATOLOGY SERVICE

The neonatology service is the unit for newborns from birth until 28 days of life. The neonatologists provide complete services including:

(1) Counseling for high-risk pregnancies during perinatal period i.e. from pregnancy until birth.

(2) Normal newborn care.

(3) Low birth weight and sick infant care.

(4) Follow-up of discharged high-risk babies.

(5) Evaluation of discharged infants who are hospitalized within the first month of life.

NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (NICU)

The NICU is for the critical care of infants that require specialized nursing, medical and technological care. The NICU at Lincoln is accredited by the New York State Department of Health as a level 3 NICU. Care is provided for all sick infants other than those who require cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and ECMO (These patients are transferred to the regional perinatal center or to the Children's Hospital of New York Columbia-Presbyterian). The unit is run by a team of expert neonatologists who provide full 24 hour in-house coverage; and has support from all pediatrics subspecialists, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, social services and bio-medical services.

NEONATOLOGY CLINIC

The Neonatology Clinic is held twice a week: on wednesday mornings 9:00 - 12:00 nn and Thursday afternoons 1:00-4:00 PM. The clinic is staffed by neonatologists who take care of high-risk newborns and identifies their ongoing medical and developmental problems. These clinics are supported by other services and subspecialties (hearing screening, eye examinations, physical therapy and rehabilitation services etc.)

NEWBORN NURSERY

The Newborn Nursery is integrated with the Maternal Service located on the 5th floor. It is a new, state of the art floor built in 2007. The design makes rooming in of babies with their mothers very convenient. Parental education is an integral part of the daily program in the unit. Teaching is done by the neonatology attending staff bedside so the parents are included in the education. Follow-up care is part of the services provided by the unit.

PEDIATRIC ICU

The Intensive Care Unit is 8 bed capacity center that provides close and continuous 24 hours services to patients who have serious conditions and need closer monitoring. The unit is staffed with expertly trained personnel and each room comes equipped with the latest devices and equipment. Currently, the unit has a patient load of approximately 600 per year.

PEDIATRIC INPATIENT UNIT

The Inpatient Unit or 4B as it is generally called, is a 32 bed capacity unit most of which are double occupancy. Two negative pressure rooms are also available. The unit handles a wide variety of patients ranging from exacerbation of asthma to life threatening conditions. No patient is ignored and each case is extensively discussed and evaluated by the staff and is given the best and most up to date care. The unit handles approximate 300 admissions a month.

OUT PATIENT CLINICS

The Children's Outpatient Department has 49 spacious examination rooms - the largest in the department. Staffed by an excellent set of physicians, it caters to a wide range of patients. General Pediatric clinics as well as Subspecialty Clinics are held daily, with the clinic seeing about 35,000 patients annually. The clinic sees scheduled as well as walk-in patients and does routine physical examinations, vision and hearing screening, completion of school forms, routine blood and urine tests, lead Screening and PPD.

PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY ROOM

The Pediatrics ER, a subdivision of the Emergency Medicine Department, delivers pediatric emergency cases to approximately 50,000 patients annually. Staffed by physicians who have subspecialized in Pediatric Emergency, it has all the equipment and training necessary to handle any pediatric emergency case. Support is also available from other Pediatric subspecialty groups.