Miami Children’s Pulmonology Division evaluates and treats all kinds of respiratory disorders, including asthma, chronic lung diseases, cystic fibrosis, pneumonia and tuberculosis. The Division is strongly committed to a multidisciplinary medical approach to these complex disorders. Staff members systematically consult with hospital specialists in gastroenterology, radiology, dietetics, speech pathology and occupational therapy.

The Division’s Ventilation-Assisted Children’s Center (VACC) applies a similar multidisciplinary approach to the management of its tracheostomy-dependent, oxygen dependent and ventilator-dependent patients. Ventilation-assisted children rely on the developments of biomedical technology to sustain their lives: all have tracheostomies, some require oxygen and others must be fed by gastrostomy tube.

As life-support technology becomes more portable and research data clearly show that these children thrive best in a supportive home environment, more and more are discharged from the hospital into the care of their families. The resulting stress on family members is often severe. Even with the help of professional home care resources, parents must maintain sophisticated equipment and function as nurses and respiratory therapists for the child, providing round-the-clock medical attention.

Recognizing this family-debilitating stress, the Division established a VACC Camp to alleviate the problem. Unlike other summer camps, the VACC Camp is for entire families. VACC Camp strives to expand both the child’s and family’s perception of the possibilities for social, educational and physical growth within a technology-dependent lifestyle.

Asthma Center

The Asthma Center, another innovative program under the direction of Miami Children’s Pulmonology Division, has quite different goals. This Center is designed to reverse upward trends in asthma morbidity by providing proactive outreach care to the increasing number of asthmatic children who have no access to preventive care.

Asthma goes undiagnosed 50 percent of the time. And, while generally controllable through preventive care, incidents of the disease have increased 40 percent in the last decade. Costs to society in emergency room admissions, lost school days and hospitalization now amount to one percent of overall healthcare costs, or $8 billion annually. Much of this cost and suffering is preventable. No community can afford to treat asthma in the emergency room; it must be diagnosed and treated proactively in the home and at school through education, early detection and preventive medicine.

To accomplish these goals, Miami Children’s Pulmonology Division has taken its fight against the disease on the road. Health-on-Wheels vehicles, the hospital’s mobile healthcare units, now make routine stops at community schools and civic organizations to provide checkups, inoculations and early diagnosis of asthma and other diseases.

Asthma study:
Miami Children's Hospital is currently searching for participants in a pediatric asthma study. For more information, click here.

Cystic Fibrosis Center

In 1993, the Pulmonology Division opened a Cystic Fibrosis Center to focus the resources of the Division, along with numerous ancillary services of the hospital, on this crippling disease. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disorder which affects approximately 30,000 Americans. Once considered a pediatric disease, new treatments and medications now enable children with cystic fibrosis to live well into adulthood.

To assist families who must cope with a chronic illness such as cystic fibrosis, the Center has adopted the latest Cystic Fibrosis Family Education Program. This program, which is intended to assist patients and their families with the management of the disease, helps to improve the quality of life for all family members.

Cystic Fibrosis studies:
Miami Children's Hospital is currently searching for participants in a pediatric cystic fibrosis studies. For more information, click here.

Physicians:

Moises Simpser, M.D., FAAP, FCCP - Director
Antonio M. Rodriguez, M.D., FAAP - Associate Director
Maria Estela Franco, M.D.

For more information or to make an appointment, please call 305-662-8380.