Experience counts. Nowhere is this more true than in Memorial Hospital of Carbondale’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Proudly, Memorial has been caring for babies with intensive care needs for over thirty years. In fact, the first intensive care baby was seen in 1976. Since then over 5,000 babies have experienced the exceptional care of our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Imagine a baby so tiny and helpless that you can cradle it in your hand. Its heart is barely strong enough to sustain the child. The baby requires around-the-clock care for weeks, sometimes months, before it grows strong enough to leave the hospital. This is the reality for thousands of babies and their parents. Approximately one in nine American children are born pre-term, or at 37 weeks gestation.
The Only Level II Plus NICU in deep southern Illinois.
Memorial Hospital of Carbondale is the referral center for other hospitals in the southern Illinois region. Because of the special technical capabilities of the NICU, the Memorial Hospital of Carbondale Family Birthing Center has earned the title, Level II Plus (the highest being 3). This means Memorial Hospital has specially trained neonatologists and nurses to care for infants with birth weights as low as 1000 grams and as early as 28 weeks gestation.
The Neonatology Team
Two board certified neonatologists, Sheila Owens-Collins, MD, Timothy Pappoe, MD, specialists in baby care, two neonatal nurse practitioners, and highly trained nurses make up the staff. Their expertise brings a level of personal and individualized caring 24 hours a day.
Depending on a baby’s intensive care needs, it is not uncommon for parents to be nervous about touching and handling their newborn. The neonatology team at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale has a special sensitivity that helps make parents more comfortable. They encourage parent participation in caring for their baby and specialize in tailoring each individual baby’s needs making it a personal experience. Learning to bathe, touch and hold the baby is all a part of the process. In fact, when the baby is soon to be discharged, parents are offered a chance to spend the night with their baby in the hospital. This “rooming in” helps acclimate parents to care for their special newborn.
Without question, having a baby with health complications can be one of the most frightening things for a parent to face. That’s why it’s nice to know that the neonatal intensive care unit at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale is saving thousands of lives – and it is right here in southern Illinois. Caring for infants with complications is where experience counts.
Physicians providing services at and admitting patients to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, Herrin Hospital and St. Joseph Memorial Hospital are not employees of the hospitals. Physicians exercise their own independent judgment regarding medical care and treatment and the hospitals are not responsible for their actions.