Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Pediatric Center Opens in Gainesville
Pediatric Center Opens in GainesvilleBy Tara Slate Donaldson
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
“Watoto” means “children” in Swahili, and it's not a word that comes up often in Gainesville. But for the staff at Watoto Pediatric and Adolescent Specialty, the name makes perfect sense.
Irving Williams, one of the firm's two doctors, has helped set up pediatric practices in Tanzania and spends time there helping sick children.
He and his son, fellow doctor Irving Williams II, recently opened the Watoto practice at Lake Manassas in Gainesville.
The younger Williams is actually the head of the new practice. He had been practicing with Capital Area Pediatrics in Ashburn, Falls Church and Herndon, but moved to Gainesville this year at the request of some of his clients.
That's according to his mother, Elvira Williams, who is the acting business manager at the new practice.
Elvira and the elder Irving Williams essentially work now for their son, who is CEO of the practice. The fourth member of the team is Karen Browning, a certified pediatric nurse practitioner who had also worked at Capital Area Pediatrics.
The medical staff specializes in “routine preventative health care” but also handles illnesses and injuries, she said.
Watoto has two unusual features. The first is separate waiting rooms for sick and well patients so children seeing a doctor for routine check-ups or vaccinations are at less risk of illness from those being treated for chicken pox or the flu.
In addition, Elvira said, Watoto has an entirely paperless office: All records are kept electronically.
So far, she said, things are going well.
“We saw our first patients about the first of April,” Elvira said, adding that about 50 children and teens are now regulars at the facility.
The Williams family has medicine in the blood. In addition to her husband and son, Elvira said she has a daughter who is a dentist in New York and another who is a doctor with the Women to Women practice in Arlington.
As for her son, Irving Williams II spends his free time coaching the Centreville-based Copperheads, a U17 soccer team, many of whose members are patients at Watoto. The doctors treat patients from birth to age 21, so teens can feel comfortable in the office.
And so can everyone else.
“Our goal is to be the friendly, neighborhood pediatric medical practice,” Elvira said.
Watoto Pediatric and Adolescent Specialty is located at 7915 Lake Manassas Drive in Gainesville.
For more information about the practice, visit www.watotopeds.com or call (571) 248-0679.
You must be logged in to post a comment.