The level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Bergan Mercy Medical Center is equipped to handle complicated and high-risk situations with a perinatologist available for high-risk pregnancies. A perinatal unit is maintained to stabilize mothers at risk for premature labor. Also available is a new Level III neonatal intensive care unit, with all of the advanced technology necessary to care for premature or sick babies.
In addition to the advanced technology necessary to care for extremely premature infants, the NICU is in a setting designed to promote newborn growth and development.
The design of the NICU incorporates the most recent research regarding early neonatal development, which shows that the stress of bright lights, continuous activity and high noise levels of a NICU can create detrimental effects on an infant's short-term and long-term development. The unit includes indirect lighting, special sound absorbing building materials, and comfortable family interaction areas to allow family privacy and encourage infant /parent bonding.
Each individual bed station now is its own little "house." Each bed is nestled within a headboard fashioned in the shape of a house, and includes spaces for personal items such as sibling pictures, extra clothing, messages for baby, or a favorite teddy bear.
The unit also features a multi-disciplinary team of four board certified neonatologists; round the clock coverage by neonatal nurse practitioners, who attend all high risk deliveries and manage the care of the newborns; specially trained, experienced nurses who provide compassionate individualized care; and respiratory therapists trained in NICU ventilation techniques. A complete range of diagnostic and therapeutic services are available including pediatric radiology, laboratory and pharmacy.
