Neonatal Intensive Care
The arrival of your baby is a joyful and exciting time – one of your family's most important life events. When a newborn baby needs special care, it can be an emotional and challenging time for new parents. At DeTar Hospital North, our Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) team offers specialized services for newborns in need of additional care, close to home.
DeTar Hospital North’s nine-bed NICU provides access to equipment and resources in an environment that supports and strengthens your baby's delicate immune system. The NICU offers an optimal environment for maintaining a baby's proper body temperature, as well as delivering nourishment to help build little muscles and strengthen vital organs in those first few days after birth.
Babies come to the NICU for many reasons: they can be premature, very small, born with a condition that requires special attention or monitoring or have experienced difficulties during delivery. Sometimes your baby needs a little more time to mature before he or she is ready to go home. Our NICU provides the extra level of support and care your baby needs.
Our specially trained neonatal care professionals utilize advanced technology, and our NICU is staffed 24 hours a day by highly-specialized neonatal nurses and doctors who are focused on the needs of newborns and their parents. All DeTar NICU nurses have completed the Small Baby Care Specialist Program – an advanced education initiative on caring for infants with extremely low birth weight – and S.T.A.B.L.E. training on stabilizing a neonate; four team members have obtained national certification in the care of these fragile babies. We also offer critical congenital heart defect screenings prior to every NICU discharge.
As part of our commitment to provide these special babies with the care they need, neonatologists with Onsite Neonatal Partners provide 24/7 in-house neonatology coverage to DeTar NICU patients.
Neonatologists
A neonatologist is a physician with a subspecialty in pediatrics who has years of special training in the care of newborn infants, especially those that are fragile, ill or premature.
Services
Onsite Neonatal Partners will provide the following services at DeTar Hospital North:
- Prenatal consults (inpatients and outpatients)
- Attend all high-risk deliveries
- Care for all babies requiring intensive and special care
- Hearing screenings for all babies
Your Baby's Stay in the NICU
The length of time your baby will stay in the NICU is determined by the nature of care he or she needs. While DeTar Hospital North's team of specially trained nurses will deliver the baby's day-to-day care, the most important person involved in your baby's treatment is you. In addition to medical care, bonding time with parents is important for your new baby. Talk with your doctor to learn what is best for your baby and how you can participate in his or her care. Sometimes, being held close and cuddled is the best medicine for a baby – and who better to do this than a parent.
Visiting
Our facilities are designed to put parents and family members at ease and provide a comfortable environment while visiting. To access the NICU, please come to the second floor postpartum nurses station. Free wireless internet access is available in all areas of the hospital.