Important Construction Updates About Our Campus Transformation — Read More

Special Needs Clinic

The Special Needs Clinic at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego cares for medically fragile children with complex health care needs.

cheerful kids with disabilities in rehabilitation center

As the only primary care practice in San Diego to do so, we offer these children a medical home, providing care that is accessible, comprehensive, compassionate and sensitive to cultural differences.

We see more than 300 patients with a wide range of medical conditions; many are unable to communicate verbally, walk, stand or feed themselves on their own.

Among the conditions we manage are:

  • Multisystem failure
  • Complex neurological disorders
  • Stroke or traumatic coma
  • Complex pulmonary management, including ventilator dependence
  • Respiratory failure and pulmonary edema
  • Major GI diagnoses with complications
  • Septicemia and other infections

Team

Bretten D. Pickering, M.D., Medical Director; Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, UC San Diego

Melissa Holmes, R.N., and Jennifer Mortimer, R.N., Care Coordinators