Marinos Joining Hospital to Build Children’s Clinic

Dan and Claire Marino, parents of an autistic son, are teaming up with Miami Children’s Hospital to build a specialized medical clinic for children with neurological afflictions.

Stocked with South Florida neurology experts, the outpatient center in Weston will aim to become a magnet for children beset by brain and nerve disorders.

“We think this would be a great thing for kids,” said Dr. Roberto Tuchman, the project coordinator and a pediatric neurologist at Miami Children’s.

Tuchman also has been treating the Marinos’ son, Michael, who has a mild form of autism that disrupts his speech and learning.

“The clinic will really be geared to all children with special needs,” Tuchman said. “It will not be geared to one disorder, per se. We’re very excited about the project.”

Parents will be able to take their children to Weston to be examined, diagnosed and treated by specialists. Many now drive to Miami for such care.

Tuchman, the Marinos and the hospital declined to elaborate on the project, saying they first want to sew up financial and logistical details.

The Marinos have been the driving force behind the clinic, two family representatives said. A nonprofit foundation started by the Miami Dolphins quarterback is raising money for it, and the clinic’s working name will be the Dan Marino Development Center.

“This is a major project of the Dan Marino Foundation,” said foundation spokeswoman Michelle Gomez.

The clinic is to be built in a corporate park south of Arvida Parkway and just west of Interstate 75. It would sit beside a site where Cleveland Clinic hopes to build a full-scale hospital, and in a corridor where several other medical offices are sprouting.

The Marinos became advocates for autism after learning that the disorder was preventing Michael from learning to speak. Autism, thought to be hereditary, afflicts about 380,000 people in the nation.

Michael attends Ralph J. Baudhuin Oral School, a program with 160 autistic children at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. Tuchman is an advisor there.

The school will be involved in the Marino clinic, said Susan Talpins, the school’s executive director.

The school attracts families from all over the country who move to Broward so they can attend for free, she said. Some of those students likely would use the clinic.

Financial arrangements of the clinic remain sketchy.

Miami Children’s would own it, a spokeswoman said. The hospital is negotiating to buy the 3.3-acre tract from the owner, Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Tuchman will supply the neurologists through a new for-profit company called the Neuro Network. The firm has bought neurology practices employing 14 doctors, and it is expanding rapidly, said Leo Raphaely, chief operating officer.

Miami Children’s chose the Weston site because of high incomes in the area and demographics, Raphaely said. In fact, Weston has become a magnet for doctors and medical organizations in recent years.

Cleveland Clinic and Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. have asked to build new hospitals in Weston. The state has not granted permission, and the requests are in court.

The tax-assisted North Broward Hospital District plans to build a 23-hour outpatient center for emergency care. The $4-million center is expected to open in about a year; no location has been chosen.

Pediatrix Inc., a company that supplies hospitals with neonatology specialists, is expanding its offices along Weston Road.

Also nearby, several physicians will be moving to a new office complex now being built. Among the tenants: four doctors from Cleveland Clinic, medical “time share” offices that doctors can rent, and a medical practice of family doctors, emergency care and other services.