Cook Children's Health Care System has cut the ribbon on the Jane and John Justin Institute for Mind Health at its campus on Fort Worth's Near Southside. Planning for the project started three years ago and brings nine different specialties together.
"The institute is the finest neuroscience facility in the country," says Ray Topham, executive director of the Jane and John Justin Foundation.
"We can provide families and patients with access to more convenient care, more complete care, the absolute best care," Director M. Scott Perry said. "We want to give their providers the workspace they need to do the best for their patients."
The nine specialties working together at the institute are neurology, neuropsychology, neurosurgery, pain management, physical medicine and rehabilitation, psychology, psychiatry, developmental pediatrics and developmental psychology.
"We've done all this to achieve our ultimate goal of ensuring every child under our care has access to the most appropriate neurological, developmental and mental health care," Perry said.
Grant Harris, chief development officer and senior vice president of the Cook Children's Health Foundation, said bringing those specialties together can simplify the process for patients and their families.
"You might have nine different doctors' appointments," he said. "If we can break that down and bring that to one doctor's appointment to where all the physicians come to you for that appointment instead of you having to go to all those separate locations, it's a game changer."
"You can tell they have their system down and they're all evaluating at the same time," said Philip Rohrbough, whose daughter was born seven weeks premature. "It truly was a beautiful thing."
Rohrbough and his wife say they started seeing doctors at Cook Children's about six months after the girl was born.
"They started guiding us down the path we needed to go to figure out what was going on and how we could help her best," Kristen Rohrbough said.
She says they started with an ophthalmologist who diagnosed her daughter with cerebral palsy, and they were then connected with neurologists and other specialists.
She said that work helped her daughter exceed expectations. Rohrbough says doctors initially thought her daughter would not be able to walk. She says the availability of services and equipment helped her exceed expectations.
"Dr. Taylor, I still remember very vividly, said she's going to be running by the time she's four, and she was right," Rohrbough said.
The institute is also decorated with artwork and in warm colors. Cook Children's Perry said he wanted the "most Instagrammable lobby in all of healthcare."
Philip Rohrbough said the style has helped make her daughter feel more comfortable.
"We've seen our fair share of hospitals and the stereotypical environment," he said. "This is a gorgeous facility."
Perry said the Jane and John Justin Institute for Mind Health has six psychiatrists, three developmental pediatricians and 30 psychologists all working together for patients. He said bringing them all together also gives them more opportunities to research and collaborate.
He said the institute allows Cook Children's to advance its "relentless dedication to improving patient outcomes and quality of life."
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