Bloom Pediatrics, a comprehensive pediatric care facility in Madison, opened its services to the community Dec. 2, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Madison-Morgan Chamber of Commerce the day prior.
Whitney Williams is the founder and care provider for Bloom Pediatrics and a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. She began her career at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) as a nurse in the Clinical Informatics Research Unit (CIRU).
Williams says she decided to open her new practice in Madison because there are few similar resources in the area.
“My family’s lived here in Madison for the last 11 years, and I’ve hoped for someone to come and open a [pediatrics] practice in Madison, but it just hasn’t happened,” Williams said. “So, it is not the traditional route for a nurse practitioner to open a private practice, but it definitely can be done.”
The private practice offers services for children from birth through age 21, including well-child visits, sick-child visits, newborn care, referrals, and more. According to Williams, there are multiple neighboring counties with private practices owned by other nurse practitioners. She noted that she followed some of the models that practices use to establish Bloom Pediatrics.
In her role as provider, Williams says she has a supervising physician she works with for guidance.
“[My supervising physician] is credentialed with CHOA (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta) and also a professor of pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine,” Williams said. “So she’s well versed in the world of pediatrics, and she is off-site but is available to me at all times during business hours.”
Williams explained that she has envisioned making her own private practice for nearly five years. She says that Bloom Pediatrics is starting with her and two medical assistants as employees, but hopes to hire another provider within the next year or so.
In her decision to bring the private practice to Madison, Williams says that multiple physicians in the area work with children. She noted that regardless of the resource, she felt the need to get started on her work because children may require different care than adults.
“We do have some family practices that will see pediatrics, and that’s great, but a lot of those providers don’t have a lot of experience with kids. They’re not tiny adults; they’re a whole different little breed in and of themselves,” Williams said. “It’s just essential for mid-level providers, nurse practitioners, and PAs in rural areas to be able to do things like this because we’re filling gaps where there is no care for these patients.”
Williams says she previously worked as a nurse practitioner in Henry County and made a tough decision to leave to pursue her own practice. She says that, despite how hard it was to leave the community she worked for, she is confident she will have a good experience with her new patients in Madison.
“I’m just looking forward to fulfilling a need and getting to know more people in my area and just feeling like a little bit more of a member of my community,” Williams said. “It will be nice to help out those people who need care and not have to drive 45 minutes to an hour to get it.”