All infants in the State of California are required by law to have blood drawn and sent to a State contracting laboratory within the first few days of life. The State tests for conditions that can seriously impair or jeopardize an individual’s potential for growth and development.
The program concentrates on conditions where early intervention can prevent infant disability or death.
The Newborn Screening Program Area Service Center at LA BioMed is part of a state-sponsored network for the diagnosis of specific endocrine, pulmonary, metabolic, genetic, and hematological disorders in newborns. LA BioMed contracts with the California Department of Public Health Genetic Disease Screening Program to provide services through the Area Service Centers. The area service center at LA BioMed works with 43 hospitals, representing over 98,000 births a year in South, Central and Eastern Los Angeles County and all of San Bernardino County.
The staff consults with physicians, families, and other primary care providers to interpret newborn screening test results, provide education, track cases, and facilitate the entry of the at risk baby and family to approved specialty centers for diagnosis and treatment. In order to provide this service, a highly trained staff of subspecialist physicians, nurse coordinators, program specialist and community liaison has been assembled.
The Newborn Screening Program at LA BioMed uses the services of a dedicated group of medical professionals who bring their varied areas of expertise to bear on specific newborn issues. The core Service Center personnel are supplemented by consultants with specialized expertise at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center to provide consultation on specific newborn issues and treatment services through the California Children’s Services Specialty Centers.
For more information about the LA BioMed Newborn Screening Program Center, go to: www.nbs.labiomed.org
Call us at 310-222-3751, or email us: newbornscreening@labiomed.org We look forward to working with you. Sincerely,
Barbara Foley Ferreira, RN, Project Director
bferreira@labiomed.org |
