PM Pediatrics Opens Its North Babylon Center

PM Pediatrics opened its brand-new pediatrics urgent care North Babylon facility on Monday. 

The facility aims to provide parents an after-hours pediatric urgent care for newborns to college-age students, roughly age 25, at their 7,200-square-foot offices at 1130 Deer Park Avenue.

Dr. Faiz Ahmad, PM Pediatric's medical director in North Babylon, says he hopes to provide parents with convenient alternative to hospital's emergency rooms for children with minor illnesses and injuries. He has worked in the emergency rooms at Good Samaritan Hospital in Babylon and Columbia University Medical Center, and seen children wait hours for treatment. 

"If their child is sick, parents don't have to take off from work the next day or go to the ER. They can come here and are taken care of in a matter of minutes," Ahmad said. "They can be comforted at least the child is on medication and they can go back to work." 

PM Pediatrics will have a five-person staff oversee by a Pediatric Emergency Specialist trained to treat a broad range of illnesses and injuries from ear infections to youth sport injuries, according to Ahmed. The North Babylon facility has both X-ray machine and on-site laboratory to allow for quick diagnosis. 

The medical center is designed to be child-friendly with bright and colorful jungle murals decorating it's waiting area and main hallways. Each of the 17 patient rooms has a different theme with murals from Disney's "The Lion King" to a sock-monkey themed room. The rooms each have a television to keep children entertained while waiting to see the doctor. 

Ahmad after treating a child, PM Pediatrics generates a full report of each urgent care visit, which is then faxed or electronically sent to the child's regular doctor for follow up visits. 

"We work with pediatricians, as we are not here to take their patients," Ahmad said. "Rather than sending their patient to the emergency room, they send their patients to us." 

PM Pediatrics accepts most major health insurance carriers, keeping a running list of those insurances that are accepted on its website. In addition, the urgent care facility is willing to work out payment plans and fees for those patients who are without insurance. 

"We do everything we can to see a person, we usually don't send them home" Ahmad said. "If they are here, they will be seen." 

The North Babylon site is PM Pediatrics largest location to date, with two other Long Island locations in Syosset and Selden. It has six locations in New York. 

Ahmad, also medical director of the Selden location, said PM Pediatrics treated 26,000 patients at the Selden location in 2012. It has treated more than 350,000 children since opening its first location in 2005.