BUTLER TWP — In response to community requests, Butler Memorial Hospital now is doing more for children.

George Pokrant, manager of the medical staff for Butler Health System, said to treat more children, the system has hired three hospitalists.

A hospitalist is a doctor who works in the hospital as compared to one who has his own office and comes to the hospital when needed.

A hospitalist takes over the care of a patient in the hospital from that patient’s own physician.

The three board certified pediatricians who joined the hospital staff a few months ago are: Dr. Thomas Wojciechowski, Dr. Tichard Filiaggi and Dr. Kevin Gerlach.

“Currently, the doctors are working a lot with babies in the nursery who may have a temperature or need oxygen or intravenous liquids or medicines.

“We also get called to the emergency department to everything from a sick baby to an injured teen, from an asthma attack to urinary tract infections,” Wojciechowski said.

Now, Pokrant said, the hospitalists make it feasible to treat children when they normally would have been sent to UPMC Children’s in Pittsburgh.

“If a child comes in and needs more attention than we can give, we do send them to Pittsburgh, but now we can treat more childhood illnesses and injuries here, at home, instead of an hour away, which can cause even more stress and concern on families who are already worried about a child,” Pokrant said.

One of these three doctors always will be either at the hospital or on call.

Butler Memorial starting having hospitalists for adults in December 2007.