A pediatric neurologist from Cook Children’s is now seeing patients in Lubbock thanks to a hospital partnership that brings specialized care closer to home for residents of West Texas and eastern New Mexico.

Jennifer Pitts, M.D., joined the Jane and John Justin Neurosciences Center at Cook Children’s in December and opened her full-time practice at Covenant Children’s facilities shortly thereafter.  She provides care for every type of general neurology need in babies, children and adolescents. Those needs include treatment for seizures, stroke, medical aspects of head injuries and brain tumors, cerebral palsy, nerve-muscle disorders, movement disorders, neurofibromatosis and headaches.

The arrival of Dr. Pitts in Lubbock is the latest expansion of a collaboration between Cook Children’s Health Care System and Covenant Children’s that dates back to 2018. That partnership began with cardiothoracic teams from Cook Children’s who travel from Fort Worth to Lubbock four times a year to perform surgery at Covenant Children’s. The partnership grew when two neurologists from Cook Children’s began scheduling visits to Covenant Children’s for specialty areas of epilepsy and movement disorders.  And now, the collaboration has grown again to include full-time neurology.

What makes this news such a welcome development? Pediatricians in the Lubbock region can refer patients to Dr. Pitts’ local clinic; she is also available to assist with in-patient consultations at Covenant Children’s. The arrangement is designed to be sustainable, convenient and accessible for families on the South Plains who would otherwise have to go long distances to reach the nationally recognized neurosciences expertise that Cook Children’s offers.

“The issue is the demand and need in West Texas in general,” said M. Scott Perry, M.D., head of Neurosciences at Cook Children’s. “There are plenty of people who need pediatric neurology specialty services and pediatric neurology subspecialty services, and many of them end up coming to Fort Worth. I hope it provides the ability for kids who need care in the hospital to get it locally without having to be transferred as often.”

Rolla Shbarou, M.D., a Cook Children’s pediatric neurologist, began seeing patients in Amarillo early last year and will serve as another partner to Dr. Pitts for covering patient care. Opening the Lubbock satellite office for Cook Children’s neurology in late 2021 was a long process of working out logistics. “We’ve been talking about this for years,” Dr. Perry said.

Covenant Children's Chief Medical Officer David Gray, D.O., expressed excitement about the new arrangement.  "Dr. Pitts is the latest example of our collaboration with Cook Children’s in bringing broader specialty care to Lubbock so that more and more patients can receive excellent care close to home," Dr. Gray said.

Dr. Pitts expects to stay busy. She sees a benefit for the West Texas families who can now avoid long drives and missed days of work when their child needs a neurology appointment or in-patient care. 

Ask Dr. Pitts about her background, and you’ll find out her passions: animals, equine therapy and most of all, helping kids. She was born in rural Shattuck, Okla., on the far west side of the state, and raised in small towns in South Carolina and Florida. Surrounded as a child by pet dogs, cats, fish and a horse, she wanted to become a veterinarian or engineer when she grew up. Her love for horses led her to give therapeutic riding lessons to children with autism, cerebral palsy and other health challenges. During those therapeutic riding sessions, she was especially aware of the children who were struggling to get their medical needs diagnosed and find specialty care. 

Dr. Pitts strengthened her interest in medicine in college when she worked on research in pediatrics in the physiologic psychology department studying topics like executive function.

Dr. Pitts went on to earn her medical degree at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. She was torn between practicing pediatrics and geriatrics, but children won her heart because of their resilient attitude. She completed her combined pediatric and neurology residency at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., in 2013.

Neurologists treat the nervous system -- spinal cord, nerves and muscles -- in addition to the brain, Dr. Pitts pointed out. In her Lubbock office she expects to encounter general neurology issues, “anything from cognitive concerns, developmental delay, seizures and headaches.”

A few other things to know about Dr. Pitts… she’s a good listener, a hiking enthusiast, and goes to the park whenever possible with her Bernese mountain dog, Bailey. Her move from the Houston suburbs to Lubbock brings her closer to her roots. She wants the parents of her patients to know they have a team here to help them take care of their children’s needs.

Dr. Pitts works from 4102 24^th Street, Suite 201, in Lubbock. To make an appointment, call 682-885-2500.

In 2018, Cook Children’s Health Care System formed a partnership with Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, to bring cardiothoracic surgical care to families living in West Texas and eastern New Mexico. The partnership is part of an initiative to make treatment more convenient for patients and families in Lubbock and the surrounding areas. Since its launch, eight children have undergone surgery at Covenant Children’s.

Gunner’s parents, Donavin and Cassie Sanchez, said staying close to home for surgery at Covenant Children’s earlier this month where they had the support of family and friends in the area was a gift to all five of their children. Gunner is a quadruplet, along with siblings Arrow, Cheyenne and Scarlett. Hazen is their 8-year-old big brother.

“Our other kids are being spoiled right now by the whole family,” Cassie said when talking about how Gunner’s siblings fared while mom and dad stayed at their son’s bedside.

Gunner, who turned four on May 3 just days after his surgery, showed no outward signs or symptoms of a heart condition. His parents describe him as a typical rambunctious and outgoing boy who loves dirt, cars and any sport with a ball.

Even so, surgery could not wait.

“If we waited until we could tell something is wrong, we’ve waited way too long,” said Vincent Tam, M.D., director of cardiac surgery at Cook Children’s Medical Center. Dr. Tam is a part of the Cook Children’s cardiothoracic team that travels quarterly to Covenant Children’s to perform surgery.

“If we were to see symptoms in a kid this age, we’re really in trouble because,” he said. “By then, the valve is really messed up, his lungs would be damaged and his heart would have been overworked.”

The hole in the lower pumping chamber, called a ventricular septal defect (VSD), makes Gunner’s heart work much less efficiently, and extra blood flow to his lungs could eventually result in damage. The defect also led to a narrowing of his aortic valve opening due to a buildup of scar tissue under the valve. As it gradually builds up over time, the scar tissue limits blood flow and can lead to a leaky aortic valve.

“If we don’t intervene, the subaortic membrane narrowing will persist, and it will actually progress over time so that months and years from now the narrowing will be even worse,” Dr. Tam explained. “It will also begin to negatively affect the function of the aortic valve. So, we don’t want things to get to the point where the aortic valve itself is in jeopardy. The extra blood flow from his VSD opening in the lower pumping chamber means more work for his heart.”

It takes a diverse team of clinical professionals from both Cook Children’s and Covenant Children’s for kids like Gunner living in more rural areas of the country to have access to this type of specialized surgical care.

“Heart surgery is teamwork, Dr. Tam said. “It’s not just me. We need a whole team of people from cardiac anesthesia to operating room staff to someone to run the heart/lung machine to ICU doctors.”

Gunner’s surgery was a success, and his parents are hopeful for his future.

“I hope he can be just like his big brother,” Gunner’s mom said. “I hope he can run and play baseball and be the healthy little boy he deserves.”

The sweetest gift of all in this unique collaboration is that Gunner was discharged from the hospital on his birthday, just in time to celebrate with his brothers and sisters.

Learn more about Cook Children's partnership with Covenant Children's here.

Surgery teams from the two hospitals joined together in Lubbock on Monday to perform two cardiothoracic procedures on pediatric patients. The partnership is part of an initiative to make treatment more convenient for patients and families in Lubbock and surrounding areas.

“Cook Children’s and Covenant Children’s developed a partnership, which allowed Cook Children’s to come to Covenant and perform procedures on a recurring basis,” said David Gray, D.O., chief medical officer of Covenant Children’s.

Vincent Tam, M.D., medical director of cardiothoracic surgery at Cook Children’s, performed both surgeries at Covenant Children’s. He traveled to Lubbock this week, along with seven other members of the Cook Children’s team. With the help of the surgical team from Covenant Children’s, Dr. Tam repaired the hearts of two children, including that of four-year-old Adrian Rosalez. Adrian was born with a vascular ring, a malformation of the aortic arch in the main blood vessel leading from the heart that partly or completely encircle the trachea or esophagus. Thanks to the collaboration between Cook Children’s and Covenant Children’s, Adrian is now recovering at home in Lubbock.

“Heart surgery is not a simple thing, I can’t take my suitcase of instruments, come to West Texas and do surgery," Dr. Tam said at a press conference at Covenant Children’s on Tuesday. "Heart surgery requires a large team of people, it requires a significant collaborative effort.”

Without this partnership, Adrian and his family would have had to travel to Dallas/Fort Worth, or another major medical hub to receive his surgery.

Covenant Children’s and Cook Children’s formed the joint partnership between the two hospitals in 2018. The plan allows Cook Children’s surgery team to perform cardiothoracic procedures on pediatric patients at Covenant Children’s once every quarter.