Jacksonville, Fla.-City leaders and members of the community will help Shands Jacksonville celebrate the renaming of the only pediatric sickle cell facility in northeast Florida. The unveiling of the newly named Charles B. McIntosh, M.D. Sickle Cell Center is set for 10 a.m., Tuesday (Dec. 6) at the center at 555 West 11th St. on the Shands Jacksonville campus.
C.B. McIntosh, M.D., opened the first African American pediatric practice in Jacksonville in 1958. Since that time, he has been involved with numerous medical organizations in Jacksonville as well as Florida. In 1967, he became chief of pediatrics at Brewster Methodist Hospital, where he was later named chief of the medical staff. He was president of the Duval County Medical Society and has served on the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Ethics Commission.
McIntosh has a passion for sickle cell disease. In the summer of 1973, he became the founding member of the Florida State Chapter, Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA) and later served as that organization’s president. The SCDAA mirrors McIntosh’s own desires to raise the awareness and increase medical school training for sickle cell.
“C.B. McIntosh believes education is the key that builds and the tie that binds to break the sickle cell cycle. It is an honor to have his name attached to the only center dedicated to treat sickle cell patients in northeast Florida,” said Elizabeth Means, vice president of community affairs at Shands Jacksonville.
Sickle cell disease is a chronic, lifelong disease that predominantly affects African-American children. About one in every 400 black children in the United States inherits sickle cell disease. Upon diagnosis, family members are faced with the long-term challenges associated with caring for children who have a disease that causes anemia, pain and other problems like lung tissue damage and stroke. The blockage of blood flow caused by sickled cells also causes damage to most organs including the spleen, kidneys and liver.
The Charles B. McIntosh, M.D. Sickle Cell Center at Shands Jacksonville offers a wide variety of services to individuals and families living with sickle cell disease. In collaboration with Nemours Children’s Clinic, the new center provides medical management, social services, genetic counseling, developmental evaluation, psychological evaluation and therapy, support groups and academic enrichment. The center features eight exam rooms, a tutoring center, conference room and office space for staff as well as the Northeast Florida Sickle Cell Foundation.