Every family looks forward to the birth of a healthy newborn. Unfortunately, in some cases unexpected difficulties arise along the way and your baby will need to be admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Regional West’s NICU is an eight-bed special care nursery located in the Birth and Infant Care Center that provides highly-specialized, around-the-clock care for premature and critically ill infants who have problems such as breathing disorders or infections.
Parents and family members are often alarmed and overwhelmed at the sights and sounds of the NICU. All infants who are in the NICU are attached to monitors and there are many noises and wires. Most of the monitors and equipment used in the NICU have alarms that sound to alert the nursing staff of potential problems or changes. The nurses who are caring for these special infants closely watch these monitors and are trained to respond to these alarms and take care of any problem that may arise.
The NICU is open to visitors at all hours of the day. To ensure the safety and security of all infants in the NICU, we are very careful about allowing only the immediate family to visit.