Employee ‘living a dream’ at new pediatric clinic

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The New Hanover Regional Medical Center Nunnelee Pediatric Specialty Clinics see kids and young adults in need of special care and it will soon be moving to a bigger facility across town.

While the clinics offered medical attention for patients, it also has sparked the drive for a future in the health field for Sarah Kate Delacourt.

She was diagnosed with a GI disease three and a half years ago which led her to the Nunnelee Clinics. Her interaction with nurses and doctors inspired her to complete her CNA certification last summer and is now too an employee there.

“This has definitely fulfilled my passion of wanting to become a nurse,” Delacourt said.

The current facility offers 13 exam rooms but that will be tripled at the new location as the size is more than 20,000 square feet.

“Now we have a larger number of pediatric specialists, patients are being able to seen closer to home, and with the growth of this particular clinic we are going to be able to decrease the wait time,” Vanessa Van Gilder, Nunnelee Clinics Manager, said.

Van Gilder says the building has a special theme, boat day.

“We want to bring a little beach and boating as well as we hope it’s a little educational for them, but more than anything we want it to be an experience where children feel less stress and anxiety when they have to come and see us,” Van Gilder said.

From the front desk to the interactive wall and floor to the handmade art, the clinics will offer big care for some of our area’s smallest patients.

“I hope they feel as if they are at home, almost which is what the clinic has been for me for the past three years and so I’m really glad that they is going to other patients that are going to be able to experience that too,” Delacourt said.

They hope to see upwards of 50,000 patient visits a year.

The clinics will be open starting Monday, June 12 and are located on the second floor of the Autumn Hall building off Eastwood Road in Wilmington.