El Paso Children’s Hospital has received accreditation from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, making it the first designated cystic fibrosis care center in the region and giving local kids and their families access to specialized treatment without leaving the state. The hospital’s cystic fibrosis center currently cares for 27 families, and officials say that number is expected to grow as referrals come in.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects the lungs, pancreas, and other organs, according to the Mayo Clinic, causing mucus and other secretions to become sticky and thick and plugging pathways in the lungs. Before this designation, as reported by KDBC, Dr. Denease Francis said patients previously traveled several hours to Albuquerque and Dallas for specialized cystic fibrosis care. That travel burden was severe: families heading to the nearest accredited centers faced round-trip drives of roughly 540 miles to Albuquerque or 1,260 miles to Dallas, according to Meetways travel data.
Dr. Francis is a pediatric gastroenterologist at El Paso Children’s Hospital, and the station’s report notes the new designation expands treatment options for children dealing with both stomach and lung issues tied to the disease. The accredited center is built around collaborative care, with clinicians seeing and discussing patients together rather than in siloed appointments — a structure the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation requires of all its accredited sites, which must field a synchronized team of pediatric pulmonologists, gastroenterologists, dietitians, respiratory therapists, social workers, and clinical coordinators, per New York State Department of Health accreditation guidance.
A Regional First for West Texas Families
The new El Paso center joins a nationwide network of more than 130 care centers and 53 affiliate programs that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation accredits and funds, requiring annual evaluations and periodic site visits to keep their designation, per the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Before El Paso’s accreditation, Texas’s CF-accredited centers were clustered hundreds of miles away in Austin, Corpus Christi and Dallas, leaving West Texas without a dedicated site. The El Paso center can now care for patients from El Paso, Juarez, Mexico, and Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to the same KDBC report…