Compassion for kids leads to opening of pediatric care center

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Chrysa Charno went into the medical field because she likes to fix people.

Charno is a licensed physician’s assistant who came from Syracuse to attend Rochester Institute of Technology, and she graduated from P.A. school in 2003. She later went back to her alma mater to earn an M.B.A. in 2009.

The 38-year-old PA saw a massive void in Rochester when it came to pediatric urgent care facilities, so she decided to do something about it. She opened the doors to her own practice in August: AcuteKids Pediatric Urgent Care, at 1243 Bay Road in Webster.

“Kids aren’t little adults; they need to be treated differently. They need different dosing, different diagnoses, a totally different approach,” says Charno. “The reason why I wanted to focus on kids is because I wanted to play all day. You learn how to be a really good clinician by having fun and treating a patient at the same time.”

Stepping through the doors of AcuteKids, patients are greeted by a warm waiting area and colorful exam rooms. Children’s books line the walls of the hallways, and homemade artwork done by Charno’s three kids is hung around the office.

Quite different from any average urgent care with a typically cold and sterile atmosphere, AcuteKids is designed to make sick or injured and often scared children—and parents—feel comfortable and at home. AcuteKids successfully balances between maintaining a sterile environment while also being inviting for its young patients.

Over the course of her 16-year career, Charno has explored many facets of medicine. She started out in orthopedics, then transferred to internal medicine, then spent eight years in plastic surgery. Most recently she worked in the emergency department at Highland Hospital.

On top of working in these specialties, Charno worked in urgent care facilities on the weekend. She explains that working in urgent care on the side helped her maintain her skill-set.

“I was never in love with general medicine because you can’t fix people there when they have chronic conditions and whatnot,” she says. “But in plastic and reconstruction surgery we were helping people with cancer. In the emergency department, people come in sick and we try to fix them. That’s what urgent care is all about, trying to fix people.”

Charno is on the board for the College of Urgent Care Medicine—the only PA on the board, in fact—and through this service she met an emergency department doctor in Chicago who had a similar interest in pediatric urgent care.

“We each had our strengths; she had the clinician side of it, and I had the business side of it because I’ve lived this for so long and I went to school for business,” says Charno. “She was just getting into it, but we quickly became friends serving on the board and I watched her open her own pediatric urgent care.”

Charno followed suit and began building her own practice. A woman-owned business, what makes AcuteKids even more unique is that it’s owned by a PA. This is rare in New York State, and difficult to accomplish. Most of the confusion involves a lot of legal jargon, but Charno was determined to see this through.

AcuteKids now has 15 on staff, including a medical director, Kenneth Katz MD. Katz is a local pediatrician and owner of Sunrise Pediatrics in Brighton. Katz is not physically in the office on a day-to-day basis, but Charno and her team communicate with him regularly.

“We work in conjunction with pediatricians. We’re not a replacement, we’re partners,” emphasizes Charno. “If we have a child that we’re concerned about, all we do is pick up the phone and involve the pediatrician in the care so they understand we’re not here to replace them, we’re just here to help out when they’re not available.”

AcuteKids is open from noon to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends, a decision that was motivated to complement pediatricians’ hours of operation. There are four staff members on every shift: a receptionist, a provider, a registered nurse and a radiology technician.

Common things Charno and her team have been treating are strep throat, colds, ear infections, and they are anticipating many influenza patients as flu season quickly approaches.

“Flu in adults is a lot different than it is for children,” says Charno. “Flu, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and pneumonia in children can go bad fast. We have the capability of full X-ray here that’s all digital. We communicate with radiologists who provide us with official reads in about five minutes. So we can make diagnoses real quick.”

AcuteKids has the ability to treat injuries ranging from sprains and strains to fractures and broken bones. They are equipped to do stitches and treat other emergencies like anaphylaxis—a life-threatening allergic reaction—from situations like bee stings.

Not only is AcuteKids unique in its position as an urgent care center in Rochester focused solely on children, but Charno has added even more charm to the new business. After every visit, a patient gets to go home with a book. The idea was inspired by Charno’s per diem work at Cuba Memorial Hospital in Cuba, Allegany County.

“At Cuba Memorial Hospital, it’s pure rural medicine,” says Charno. “There are farmers and Amish people and other underserved populations who use that hospital as their health care sometimes.”

Charno noticed the children she saw at that hospital lacked many basics like clean clothes and good hygiene. She began bringing toothbrushes and toothpaste to the kids to encourage healthy habits, and eventually began bringing books that her children would donate.

“The kids’ faces would light up when we would give them a book, so I knew that we had to do the same thing here at AcuteKids,” says Charno.

Charno says her tenacity and drive comes from watching strong female mentors all her life. Her mother owns Sports PT, a private physical therapy practice, and her grandmother ran her grandfather’s construction business.

“I watched them be strong female leaders in a man’s world and saw it could be done,” says Charno. “From them I learned strength and empowerment.”

Charno says one of the keys to success is being surrounded by positivity and strong mentors. She believes that everything in life happens for a reason, and that goes for both good and bad.

“I want to change the outlook for pediatric care in this city,” says Charno. “Right now, pediatric care in the urgent care side of things is poor. My long-term goal is to make a huge impact on the market and show people this is the way medical care should be and then expand from there.”

[email protected] / (585) 363-7031

 #Team PXY with Corey James on 98PXY is a partner with Fast Start. Listen on Monday from 5:30 to 10 a.m. for his interview with Chrysa Charno.