Kid-Friendly Pediatric Unit Is Happy Addition

Living in LoCo is Erica Garman's blog devoted to Loudoun County. You can find it at http://www.loudounextra.com. This column of highlights appears every Sunday.

It's a pleasure to go to the hospital to celebrate a happy occasion, such as the birth of a child or, as was the case Tuesday night, to welcome the arrival of improved pediatric care in our area.

Inova Loudoun Hospital launched its state-of-the-art pediatric unit and pediatric specialty center in Lansdowne. The unit will serve young people suffering from bad bouts of flu or asthma or recovering from appendicitis, orthopedic surgeries and other relatively routine procedures. It also will offer expanded pediatric specialties such as infectious disease care, nephrology, neurology and psychiatric care.

The real star of the evening was the 14-bed facility's appearance. It has large private rooms, each containing two flat-screen televisions, a PlayStation unit, a DVD player and a futon-like pullout bed for parents. There are turtle and dinosaur exam tables and child-sized "body maps" that clinicians can use to show a pint-size patient exactly what they will be examining or X-raying.

Also, for the first time at Inova Loudoun, a certified child life specialist will work one-on-one with patients and siblings to explain at a child's level what to expect from required medical procedures.

Add to these features a maxed-out communal playroom with toys, books and a simulated fish tank (that is also a television), and you've got a place that makes an unfortunate visit a tad more palatable -- kind of like that spoonful of sugar Mary Poppins used to help the medicine go down.

Group Urges New Grading Scale

There's a growing advocacy group in Loudoun County that is lobbying to change the public school system's grading scale to the one most commonly used by other secondary schools across the country.

"Changing the grading scale is not about lowering standards or trying to get higher grades," said FairGrade Loudoun activist Kathy Lague of Cascades. "We are satisfied with the school system and believe that our School Board and school administrators do what they think is best for the students 100 percent of the time."

But parents such as Lague say that the current grading scale puts Loudoun students at a disadvantage when it comes to college admissions, scholarships, NCAA playing eligibility and even good-student discounts on car insurance.

In the Loudoun school system, a 92 is a B. In Arlington public schools, a 92 is an A.

This difference doesn't really mean much if college admissions officers or insurance agencies look at numeric grade averages. But they typically look only at an applicant's grade-point average, which is based on a student's letter grades, say FairGrade Loudoun activists.