Dr. Carl Roberts listens to the heart and lungs of Christian Lopez during a checkup at Oro Valley Pediatrics.

Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star

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The pint-sized patients aren't the only things growing at Oro Valley Pediatrics.

The pediatrics office at Northwest Medical Center, 13101 N. Oracle Road, Suite 103, recently spent $20,000 on renovations, including the addition of two waiting rooms. The practice now has one "well" waiting room and two new "sick" waiting rooms.

The remodeling took "a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I think the payoff is seeing the families. We don't want to see a well baby come back sick (from germs caught in the office)," said Dr. Carl Roberts, who started Oro Valley Pediatrics in 2000.

The second sick waiting room has a separate entrance from the others and also leads to isolated examination rooms.

"Should we have an outbreak of influenza, we can have an isolation waiting room, so (infected patients) never cross into the other side of the office," Roberts said.

All the waiting rooms are decorated with fun characters and toys.

The second sick waiting room, for example, features a Garfield drawing given to Roberts by Garfield creator Jim Davis and a musical clock.

"We try to make it more of a home setting for the kids than a sterile office," Roberts said.

The pediatrics center also is in the process of switching to an electronic records system.

Prescriptions will be sent to pharmacies electronically. Electronic prescriptions do not rely on handwriting, which reduces the likelihood of prescription errors, Roberts said.

He and his colleagues will be able to access patient records at home, "so if the family calls in the middle of the night because a child has hives from a new prescription, we can look it up," Roberts said.

Dr. Christa Whittard starts work at Oro Valley Pediatrics Oct. 2 for a total of five pediatricians — Roberts, Whittard and Drs. Derinda Radjeski, Pamela Villar and Diana Honebrink.

This large number of doctors enables "same-day appointments for everyone. We don't like our patients to go to urgent care. We'd rather treat them here," said Connie Hall, office manager.

Though nestled in Oro Valley, the pediatrics office draws patients from all over.

"We get a lot of patients from San Manuel, Oracle and Catalina. We have people come from as far away as Sierra Vista," Hall said.

Though they live on the South Side of Tucson, Lydia Lopez drives her son Christian, 12, all the way to Oro Valley Pediatrics for his doctor appointments.

Christian has been a patient of Roberts for 12 years.

"He started off at St. Mary's (hospital). We've just followed him," Lopez said.

"He's just really personable to the kids. He speaks to them. He's always in a great mood, and he's always friendly with the kids."

Oro Valley Pediatrics treats youngsters all the way from babyhood to pre-college check-ups at age 18.

The business accepts many insurance plans, and it also accepts uninsured patients, though they must pay for services at the time of the visit.

Pediatric cardiologists come to the office twice a month for children who need specialized heart care.