Kids first, kids only at Urgi-Kids

Lolita Harper

Young Connor Anastasion breathed in deeply while the doctor checked

to see if the Wiggles were in his tummy.

“The doctor has to listen to for the Wiggles to see if they are in

there dancing,” his father, Steve Anastasion told him, referring to

the popular children’s singing group that consists of five grown men

in colorful outfits wiggling their way through popular songs.

Connor breathed deeply, while looking at his father, then doctor

Andrew Blumberg, then back at his father, as if he were searching for

some answers.

He was fine, Blumberg said, and gave Connor a high-five, while

mother Tina sighed.

And so went the third Saturday morning in the history of the new

after-hours clinic Urgi-Kids, on the corner of Baker Street and

Fairview Road in Costa Mesa. Little faces with quizzical glances,

breathing deeply for pediatricians with stethoscopes, who were

diagnosed and treated while other medical offices were closed.

Blumberg, the founder and medical director of the clinic, said

Urgi-Kids was designed so children could get quality care from area

physicians without having to wait in an emergency room or compete

with adults for medical attention.

Urgi-Kids is for kids, just as the name indicates. It is run by a

collaboration of Hoag Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Orange County

and nearly 40 pediatricians with local practices, Blumberg said.

Zeke McCreight, a 17-month-old from Costa Mesa, was suffering from

a bad cough and a fever. His mother, Jennifer, said she brought him

to Urgi-Kids because of a referral from his regular doctor. It helped

that it happened to be right in the family’s hometown.

“It is totally convenient,” said the ultra-hip mother, who had the

full length of her right arm tattooed and wore bright pink hair.

“This place is so great. We got in and got right out. I don’t even

think we’ve been here an hour yet.”

Although Zeke was under the weather, the future football player --

who looks much bigger than 17 months -- wooed the nursing staff while

running up and down the halls.

“Oh, he is adorable,” nurse Susan McIntyre-Price said.

McIntyre-Price is what they call “the back nurse,” she said. She

handles patient care and treatments and assists the doctors.

“Whatever they request, I do,” she said. “Or sometimes, I suggest

and they do. But they are all great. Every one of them.”

The veteran nurse said that she loved her new job and that the fun

atmosphere explained why the interviewing process was so tough. The

doctors were picky and wanted only those with pediatric experience,

McIntyre-Price said.

“I have worked in geriatrics and pediatrics, nothing in between,”

she said. “I don’t know if I would like to deal with normal humans.”

She stopped talking. Dylan Grunbaum, in room four, needed some

Motrin.

“Good news,” McIntyre-Price told the little boy. “The doctor said

no shots. If you drink this all for me, no shots.”

Dylan took the medicine and drank it down, sucking every last drop

out of he bottom of the plastic cup. It would help his coughing and

fever, and the doctor would be back with a prescription for his

earache.

“I have a cold,” Dylan said.

Mother Mary Anne Grunbaum, from Westminster, said she preferred

Urgi-Kids to Hoag Hospital’s after-hours center in Huntington Beach

because the Costa Mesa clinic specializes in children.

“This place is so great,” Grunbaum said. “We came here because we

wanted to see a pediatrician.”

* LOLITA HARPER is the community forum editor. She also writes

columns Wednesdays and Fridays. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275

or by e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.