Dayton Children’s Hospital opens Kids Express site in Centerville-Sugarcreek area

Dayton Children’s Hospital’s newest pediatric health care center is set to make its debut today, but officials say it’s not meant to replace a family’s pediatrician.

Kids Express Centerville, an on-demand pediatric health care option for children ages six weeks to 18 years, is scheduled to open at 6044 Wilmington Pike in Sugarcreek Twp. The location is in a strip mall just south of Interstate 675, roughly across the street from Miami Valley Hospital South.

Pediatric nurse practitioners can see patients at the new center for common minor conditions including colds, mild fever, flu, pink eye, runny noses, ear infections, sore throat, strep and rashes.

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Kids Express locations are a response to many children being seen at minute clinics and other retail-based clinics not staffed by pediatric-trained providers, said Dr. Lisa Ziemnik, division chief of Dayton Children’s Kids Express and urgent care.

“This helps keep all these kids be seen by a pediatric provider instead of in the (primarily) adult-care systems and helps keep them out of the emergency care and the urgent cares if they can’t get to a pediatrician’s (office),” Ziemnik told Dayton Daily News on Monday. “What we want is children to be seen at the right level of care at the right time when they need it.”

But Kids Express locations are not meant to replace primary care providers, which Ziemnik said are “the backbone of pediatrics.”

“That pediatrician has been many times with those kids from the time they were born ... so they know the family, they know the family dynamics, they know the intricacies of those patients,” she said, adding kids should be seen by their primary care doctor first, if families can.

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If not, then Kids Express locations are “a nice alternative,” because they can take care of an issue and then send a summary of treatment to a family’s pediatrician to let them know what care was provided, Ziemnik said.

“We’re there when the pediatrician can’t be, but we’re not meant to replace them,” she said.

Locations are open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas, Ziemnik said. Video visits are available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily to anyone in Ohio.

The new 2,400-square-foot location includes five patient exam rooms, including one dedicated to telehealth. Total dollar investment for the site is around $750,000, Ziemnik said.

Dayton Children’s Hospital launched Kids Express in February 2019. This is the fifth of these pediatric health care locations in the region, joining sites in other higher-income suburbs — Beavercreek, Springboro, Mason and West Chester Twp.