Doctors’ Notes

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Types of Providers

At Kids Plus, we now have 3 office locations and 22 Providers who can see you in the North, the South, or within the city of Pittsburgh.

With all these great options, and all these great people, we thought this would be an excellent time to tell you a little more about the different kinds of Providers we have. A health care Provider is most easily defined as a person who helps to identify, treat, and prevent illness.

At Kids Plus, we employ four different kinds of health care providers: two types of Physicians (M.D.s and D.O.s), Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants.

We’re proud to say that we’ve helped to train every one of our Providers, so we can guarantee that our patients and families will get consistent, top-quality care and treatment no matter who they see or where they are seen. We take pride in our status as a teaching practice, and in our dedication to the highest quality, most up-to-date, evidence-based pediatric care

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS

A Physician Assistant (PA) completes, after college graduation, a formal secondary training program accredited through the Accreditation Education Commission for the Education of Physician Assistants. This training program can be completed in 2 years, if done on a full-time schedule. The training program includes classroom work, plus rotation sin various medical specialtie,s including Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Surgery, among many others.

PAs are required to pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam before they are eligible to practice, and are required to recertify by exam every 10 years. PAs practice under the guidance of a Physician. They are able to do many oft he same things that a Physician can do — including history taking, examination, and treatment of the patient, prescribing medications, and following up with patients.

We’re proud to have four wonderful Physician Assistants on our team of Providers:

STACEY STRATTON, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills

TRAVIS LEWIS, who’s also a certified Athletic Trainer, and who sees patients at Cranberry/Seven Fields and Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

ALYSSA MATHEWS, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills

BRIANNA ROTHBAUER, who sees patients at Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

OLIVIA BUTERBAUGH, who sees patients at Cranberry/Seven Fields and Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

SAMANTHA GRONLUND, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills

DANIELLE ANTHONY, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills

NURSE PRACTITIONERS

A Nurse Practitioner (NP) is a provider who has completed a Bachelors degree in nursing, then went on to complete a Masters Degree as well. Because individual states have different licensing requirements, a nurse who earns a state license and has completed the required training courses is eligible to apply for national certification through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

After completing the education and certification, Nurse Practitioners are able to take histories, examine and treat, prescribe medications, and follow patient’s long-term.  NPs also work closely with the Physicians.

We’re proud to have four wonderful Nurse Practitioners on our team of Providers:

TERRI BAILEY, who previously worked as a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Magee Women’s Hospital, and who sees patients at Pleasant Hills and at Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

JONETTE McCLELLAND, who also worked as a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Magee, and who sees patients at Pleasant Hills Office

RACHEL McCARRISON, who previously worked work in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital, and who sees patients at Pleasant Hills and at Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

LAUREN LEHMAN, who previously worked as a nurse at Children’s Hospital and at a UPMC Cancer Center, and who sees patients at Pleasant Hills.

D.O.s

A D.O. is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Similar to M.D.s, D.O.s attends an Osteopathic Medical School for 4 years after completing their pre-medical courses in college. After that, they’re required to participate in a 1-year internship in which they learn more about the core specialties. They rotate in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynecology, along with electives of their choice. Once they have completed their internship, D.O.s enter into the residency of their choice.

Our physicians have all completed 3-year residencies in Pediatrics. The only difference in the training, other than the Osteopathic Internship, is in courses taken in Manipulative Medicine. D.O.’s are required to renew their license every 7-10 years, based on their specialty.

We’re proud to have four fantastic board-certified Osteopathic Physicians on our team of Providers:

DR. ALICIA HARTUNG, who sees patients at Cranberry/Seven Fields and Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

DR. LUCAS GODINEZ, who sees patients at Cranberry/Seven Fields and Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

DR. AMY MADDALENA, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills and Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

DR. DITTE KARLOVITS, who sees patients at Cranberry/Seven Fields.

M.D.s

The fourth group of Providers we have at KPP are the M.D.s, otherwise known as Medical Doctors. They complete their pre-medical requirements in college, then go on to attend a medical school for 4 years. Following med school, they do a residency in the specialty of their choice before going into practice. M.D’s are also required to renew their licensure by taking an exam every 7-10 years.

We’re proud to have eight wonderful board-certified M.D.’s on our team of Providers:

DR. TODD WOLYNN, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills and Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

DR. ALBERT WOLF, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills.

DR. SARAH SPRINGER, who sees patients at Squirrel Hill/Greenfield

DR. K.G. PAI, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills

DR. ASHLEY RILEY, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills

DR. JANICE VALKO, who sees patients at Pleasant Hills

DR. MARA RICHARDSON, who sees patients at Squirrel Hill/Greenfield.

I hope this helps you understand a little more about the types of Providers you may see in the Kids Plus offices. We’re confident in, and truly proud of, our whole, incredible team of health care Providers, and of the top-quality care we offer from everyone at every location.

Dr. Alicia Hartung, a Kids Plus Provider since 2001, is a shareholder in the practice.