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Reprinted with permission from The Messenger.
By Lori Harrsion, Messenger Staff Writer

Dedicated caregivers, not facilities, took the spotlight as Regional Medical Center welcomed the public to its newly renovated neonatal intensive care unit Tuesday.

“You’re standing in 5,000 square feet, over $1 million in construction and equipment and, most importantly, 20 staff members who are dedicated to giving babies a chance at life,” RMC President Ron Peterson said.

During the afternoon open house, visitors got their first look at the unit, which has 12 baby stations placed in an open pod design. Each of the four circular work areas contains three bassinets – allowing nurses to see babies throughout the unit while working in other pods and giving family members more room to visit.

The NICU is intended for the smallest and sickest babies. With the redesign, the amount of space in the unit used for patient care increased from 800 to 3,000 square feet.

“The first thought in my mind would be to thank God we’re back,” said neonatalogist Dr. Alex Soriano. During construction, which started last summer, the unit was temporarily located behind the pediatric unit on the seventh floor.

Soriano recalled that seven to eight years ago, his staff suggested he ask hospital officials to renovate the unit.

“The first time we talked about this, the renovations were supposed to be $70,000,” he said, with a laugh. “I don’t know how it got to be $1 million.” He expressed appreciation to board members, Peterson and Trover Foundation CEO Bobby Dampier.

Perinatal Services Director Jill Noffsinger echoed his thanks and said, “It’s been well worth the wait. … Reality is even better than our dreams are.”

General contractor Marshall Erdman and Associates, headquartered in Madison, Wisc., built the unit. Staff members were consulted for their opinions on the design.

The NICU now features a private viewing area where family and friends may see the baby through a window, two carpeted family areas with comfortable seating, an exam room, a consultation room where the doctor may talk privately with parents, and a lactation room for breast-feeding mothers. Adjacent sleep rooms will be available for parents whose babies will go home in a day or two.

There are also individualized lighting controls over each bassinet.

Framed photographs of children who were once cared for in the unit – they’re called “NICU graduates” – decorate the walls. Six of those children took part in Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting along with staff members.

“What we have tried to do is provide a professional atmosphere but make it comfortable for our families,” said Rita Durst, who has worked as a registered nurse on the unit for 11 years. “We know how intimidating it can be to have this new baby and have it taken from you and given to someone you don’t know.”

She told the story of a boy who stayed in the unit for a couple of months after his premature birth. There was a mark on his arm or leg, she said, and when he was 2 or 3 years old, he asked his mother where he had gotten it.

His mother told him, “That’s where the angels touched you,” Durst said. But the boy was very curious, and wanted to know who the angels were.

So she took him to visit the NICU and introduced him to the staff.

“She walked in and said, ‘James, I want you to meet all your angels,’” Durst said.

“That’s just the kind of bonding we have with our families, which is in addition to all the care we give the babies,” she said. “We realize those families are the most important part of that baby getting better.”

That mother, Susan Houck of Madisonville, recalled that her son, James, weighed just 2 1/2 pounds when he was born 10 years ago.

As she looked around the redesigned unit, tears came to her eyes.

“I have held it back just as long as I can hold it,” she said, patting her son on the shoulder. “They’re happy tears, buddy. … It was just a really emotional time. He’s our only child.”

The new place is “fabulous,” she said, adding she believes Soriano and the staff are top-notch no matter where they work.

“This has got to be the best neonatal intensive care unit anywhere in the world, and it’s not because of the facility,” she said. “It’s because of the people who take care of you.”

Parents Craig and Melissa Gilland of Marion brought their 11 1/2-month-old son, Colten, to the open house. He stayed in the unit four weeks after he was born eight weeks early.

“It was scary, but God blessed us,” Craig said. “The people here are really good.”

While he was just 4 pounds, 6 ounces at birth, the boy now weighs 19 pounds. Family members call him “the Michelin Man,” Melissa joked.

“I don’t ever want to have to do it again, but I would look forward to the facilities now,” she said. “The staff are just wonderful. I feel like they’re family.”

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