FAQ

The acronym stands for Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care. In a PPEC center, children with special health care needs receive nursing intervention and medical supervision.

An infant or child who requires some form of nursing intervention is a candidate for the program. A physician signs an order for PPEC services to begin. Typical needs include:
   Apnea monitoring
   Oxygen administration
   Tube feedings
   Tracheostomy care
   Frequent medication administration (such as IV medications)
   Ventilator management

The BrightStart PPEC is actually a nursing center – but often, parents and visitors get the impression of a day care. Infants and children in the program must have some form of nursing intervention. Staff caring for patients in the center are registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, aides and therapists with very specific pediatric experience.

PPEC centers have been active in Florida since 1995. PPEC centers are licensed and regulated by the State of Florida.

We have three centers in Central Florida.
   Our Winter Garden center serves central and west Orange County, along with parts of Lake and Seminole County. This includes Clermont, Groveland, Ocoee, Apopka, Windermere, central and west Orlando.
   The Orlando center serves central and south Orlando and southern Orange County, along with Osceola and eastern Polk Counties. This includes Kissimmee, St Cloud and Poinciana.
   The Sanford center serves Seminole county, along with western Volusia and eastern Lake Counties. This includes Sanford, Oviedo, Winter Springs, Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Casselberry, Deltona, Debary, Orange City and Deland.

PPEC offers so many advantages for a child with special health needs, but among the key benefits are:
   PPEC centers are a more reliable health care option than home care services
   PPEC centers offer socialization for the child, reducing the isolation of home care services
   PPEC provides a central location for therapy services, promoting better coordination of care between nursing and therapy

No, they are not. Precautions and infection control procedures are based on protecting every patient in the center, as each is considered medically fragile.
Foremost, patients who are sick or have symptoms of an infectious condition may not attend the center. Daily assessments for each patient and monitoring throughout the day maintain the overall health of our patient population.

Working with our Medical Directors, BrightStart continues to review and implement up to date infection control protocols.
After reviewing the trends of local health care systems and in consultation with our Medical Directors, BrightStart Pediatrics has modified our mask requirements in our PPEC centers.
Effective October 13, 2022 BrightStart will no longer require face masks in our PPEC centers, including our transportation vehicles.
While we will continue to be diligent in assessing our patients and staff in keeping with established infection control protocols, face masks will be used for anyone who is symptomatic or for dealing with patients with suppressed immune systems.
Our cleaning procedures and precautions remain in place and we continue to review them to ensure they are effective and up to date with standards for our facilities. 
Employees, families and visitors have the option of continuing to wear face masks at their personal discretion.
The use of gloves and gowns continues as needed and as we would normally use for nursing and therapy. The staff practices established infection control protocols such as sanitizing surfaces, equipment, toys and other items. Frequent and diligent hand hygiene is practiced at all times.
The daily cleaning and disinfecting routine for each center includes electrostatic sprayers and application of effervescent sanitizing hospital-grade disinfectant. This same daily cleaning routine is also performed for all transport vehicles and equipment.
In early 2020, the air and ventilation systems in each center were upgraded for environmental safety in response to the the COVID threat.
We understand that changing information and guidelines have impacted everyone. At BrightStart, we’re fully operational and ready to help. Please contact us if you need additional information about how we are handling our daily operations.

Our primary focus at BrightStart Pediatrics is care for infants and children up to five years of age. BrightStart has  limited availability for children outside this age group.

Patients eligible for Florida Medicaid are fully covered for PPEC and therapy services. Many private insurances also cover services, depending on the plan. BrightStart works with families for coverage through private insurance. There are many options and avenues related to coverage – if you have a specific concern or question, please contact us for assistance.

Each vehicle has a driver to conduct safe and efficient transport. BrightStart Pediatrics provides an escort from our Transport Team on each vehicle to monitor the patients while in transit.

Yes they are! BrightStart takes great pride in bringing you real, fresh content on our website. We never use stock photography in our materials. Some children you see are current patients, some have already graduated from our program. We share updated photos and video on our What’s New page all the time, so check in there for more fun.

Yes – all of the photos are of BrightStart patients. Sometimes their nursing need is very visible, such as patients who have a tracheostomy. But very often the nursing need comes from something you can’t see: patients with G-tubes, or cardiac patients in various stages of surgical repair, patients who receive specialized treatments and medications for cystic fibrosis or seizures.
No matter what these pediatric patients need, they’re all just terrific kids. Outside their nursing needs they enjoy all the same things as babies and children who are not medically complex. We incorporate our unique style of nursing, therapy and love to help every child have a bright start.