It’s no head scratcher that a solution for plagiocephaly, otherwise known as flat head syndrome, should be available to families.
In an effort to make access easier for patients, Cranial Technologies is not only creating helmets, but also a way for families to have access to a clinic nearby, instead of needing to trek to other cities.
Through DOC Van, a mobile clinic that debuted on Jan. 14, Santa Clarita residents can visit the van at the Valencia Crossroads parking lot every Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“We have clinics all around the country — we have about 125 clinics now. This is a mobile clinic that’s the first of the company, so it’s a trailblazer. We travel to four different locations during the week,” said Brooke Legaux, clinician for DOC Van.
Generally treating patients between the ages of 4 to 6 months, and up to 18 months, the van visits the following locations: Santa Clarita on Tuesdays, Simi Valley on Wednesdays, Oxnard on Thursdays, and tentative locations on Fridays, such as Thousand Oaks.
“We go to the same parking lots every single week, so that families will stay consistent with where they get treatment. They can make appointments online at our website, and they can either get a referral from a pediatrician, or just find us online without a referral,” Legaux said. “If they have concerns, they can just book an appointment. It’s a complimentary evaluation. We take pictures of their head, then assess if they need treatment or not.”
According to Legaux, Santa Clarita is one of the clinic’s busier cities, where staff members see between 15 to 22 babies a week.
“Depending on their age, we see them every week, two weeks or three weeks. Babies can get treated from four weeks all the way up to a year, depending on the severity,” Legaux said. “Ideal treatment is between four to six months, because that’s when the skill bones are the most soft and malleable. Each month that babies get older, their skull bones start to harden, so the treatment times are longer and outcomes aren’t as great. So early referrals are huge.”
The incentive of the new mobile clinic was to help alleviate the hassle of Santa Clarita residents driving to other L.A. County cities.
“A lot of families were having to drive from outside or L.A. then driving to Los Feliz or Brentwood and sit in a roundtrip of three or four hours of traffic for a 20-minute appointment. So the company identified cities that would benefit from the clinic,” Legaux said. “Driving hours with a baby in a car, spending gas money and taking time off of work was impacting the families, so [the company] wanted to decrease those barriers for access.”
Once patients have their heads scanned and analyzed, the 3D pictures are sent to a manufacturing facility in Arizona.
“When we put the helmets on their heads, it’s custom molded to their heads, but there’s a little bit of extra plastic, so we have to make trims in the clinic so that it’s fitting the baby properly,” Legaux said. “I recommend any baby under six months to come in. You get cute photos of their head shapes, and if treatments are not recommended, then you have these fun photos. They’ll look like baby astronauts.”
