Blanchard Valley Health System (BVHS) and Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) have joined hands in a collaborative partnership.

This partnership allows pediatric and neonatal patients at Blanchard Valley Hospital to receive the expertise and resources offered by NCH in Findlay, Ohio.

The collaboration offers increased access for area residents to NCH pediatric specialists and extends state-of-the-art pediatric research and clinical trials to Northwest Ohio. In addition, BVHS physicians receive advanced education and training as well as direct consultation with specialists at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

“By combining the resources and expertise of Nationwide Children’s Hospital with the BVHS pediatricians and pediatric hospitalists, we can build upon the outstanding care we currently provide,” said Dr. Martin Hanawalt, BVHS pediatric hospitalist. “This will allow BVHS’ skilled medical staff to offer an even higher level of care in Findlay.”

“Nationwide Children's looks forward to leveraging our neonatal and pediatric expertise to enhance the exceptional care already in place at Blanchard Valley Health System,” said Gil Peri, vice president for regional development at Nationwide Children’s.

“We will partner to meet the needs of the community physicians and their patients/families. Our physician and nursing teams will collaborate on protocol development, education initiatives, neonatal nursery telemedicine support and clinic development. We value this partnership tremendously and commend Blanchard Valley Health System for their proactive approach to optimizing neonatal and pediatric care for the children and families in Findlay.”

Nationwide Children’s Hospital was ranked one of U.S. News & World Report’s 2012-2013 “Best Children’s Hospitals.” It is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare networks. NCH includes a medical staff of 980 and a hospital staff of 7,200 associates.