Dedication Is Our Calling Card

It takes a special person to care for catastrophically injured or severely disabled children. Our nurses, therapists, and support personnel come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but they all share a singular passion – caring for the medically fragile child. The licensed nurses and support staff in each of our facilities are intensively trained to handle every situation, and all Registered Nurses and Respiratory Therapists have received Pediatric Advanced Life Support certification.

But it is a shared compassion for our children that is the glue that binds our nurses, management and staff together. It is why our uniquely qualified and highly skilled clinicians chose to work here, and it is why we chose them for this sacred responsibility. It is a commitment that comes from the heart – brought to life by the best-trained pediatric subacute team in California.

History

In July 1987, Mike Zarcone purchased Saratoga Place Skilled Nursing Facility with his partner, Connie Rolfe, RN converted it into a subacute facility. Mike and Connie changed the name to Subacute Saratoga Hospital and converted it into a subacute facility serving regional acute care hospitals and their patients.

Two years later, Mike was approached by Santa Clara Valley Medical Center about providing ventilator care to a ten-month old baby, Crystal. Crystal was the first-ever pediatric patient to be admitted to a skilled nursing facility in the state of California. Shortly after admitting Crystal, hospitals throughout Northern California began reaching out to Subacute Saratoga in order to place other technology-dependent children in this unique facility. The need for an alternative level of care for severely disabled or catastrophically injured children was growing. Technology dependent children were tying up cribs in the pediatric intensive care units of Bay Area hospitals for months, and even years. These children were not receiving active rehabilitation services because acute hospitals are focused on saving the lives of critically ill children, not on their long term rehabilitation. Serving these children became Mike’s mission and singular passion.

In 1993 California passed AB-36, the Pediatric Subacute Legislation Act, and in April 1994 the program was made available statewide. In 1998, Mike purchased an acute care hospital in neighboring Campbell, a facility that became the Children’s Recovery Center. Together, these two facilities represent the only State certified pediatric subacute hospitals in Northern California. In order to expand the exceptional clinical care to children who were machine dependent yet lived with their parents, Mike created Scribbles and Giggles Pediatric Day Health Care, which now operates in two South Bay locations.

With Mike’s death in 2014, children in California lost a powerful advocate and loving friend. Today, the facilities Mike founded are owned and operated by Innovations Health Systems, LLC as the Pediatric Recovery Network. Ken McGuire and Dan Niccum, owners of IHS, are committed to continuing Mike’s legacy of providing world-class medical attention in a homelike environment.

A Tradition of Innovation

Innovations Health Systems, LLC is a diversified healthcare company focused on providing high acuity care and products to medically fragile Californians. IHS owns and operates the Pediatric Recovery Network for catastrophically injured and severely disabled, machine dependent children, and is currently building California’s first congregate living health community for catastrophically injured and severely disabled, machine dependent adults. All of the facilities and programs offered by IHS are the first of their kind in California, reflecting a tradition of innovation unmatched in health care.

• Saratoga Pediatric Subacute is the first pediatric subacute facility in California (AB-53)
• The Children’s Recovery Center is the first pediatric acute care facility for machine-dependent children in California
• Scribbles & Giggles Pediatric Day Health is the first pediatric day health facility for machine-dependent children in California
• Innovations Health Commons will be the first congregate living health community for catastrophically injured and severely disabled, machine dependent adults in California (SB-534)

Founded and led by two healthcare professionals with a diverse background in all aspects of health care delivery, IHS is committed to providing the finest care and most advanced products available in an efficient, effective, and efficacious manner. We are committed to working with referring hospitals to ensure that the needs of the community are met, that dangerous and expensive readmissions are minimized, and that the individuals in our facilities receive world-class medical care.