St. Joseph’s Children’s Health Center (CHC) operates a Level III Perinatal Center and Nursery Intensive Care Unit (NyICU) - the highest classification available to hospitals offering maternity services. The NyICU is staffed by neonatologists, highly skilled nurses, neonatal nurse practitioners and other physicians who treat premature and critically-ill infants.

The NyICU treats infants throughout the Southwest and serves as the first home for nearly 800 premature babies each year. These infants often weigh less than a pound and stay in the unit for weeks or even months. The following conditions are the primary reasons babies receive treatment in the NyICU:

• Any unusual stressors within the first hours or days of life
• Cardiac conditions
• Congenital anomalies
• Prematurity
• Respiratory/birth transition issues
• Surgical needs

The unit is equipped with 65 licensed beds and is capable of handling complex illnesses that can’t be accommodated in Level II nurseries, and even some Level III nurseries. All 65 beds are licensed as level III ICU, that allows the team the flexibility to place the infants in the area that is best suited to their medical and family needs.

Because infants in the NyICU often have complicated and serious respiratory issues, the unit is outfitted with some of the most advanced life-saving equipment. Its state-of-the-art technology includes Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), a heart-lung bypass machine that works for an infant’s heart and/or lungs while the baby’s organs develop.

To ease the transition from hospital to home, the unit offers two parent rooms where parents and their babies can stay for 24 to 48 hours before being discharged. During that time, nurses assume a secondary role in which they help parents learn to care for their baby, administer medications, and become comfortable as their baby’s primary care- giver.

Because infants are not the only ones who require care, the CHC sought the support of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Phoenix to establish the Ronald McDonald Family Room®, the only center of its kind in the Phoenix-metropolitan area. The Ronald McDonald Family Room® provides a caring and supportive respite area for parents and adult family members of patients. The room features a kitchenette stocked with snacks, an eating area, a shower, washers and dryers, computers, and an entertainment system.

In addition, the CHC has partnered with the March of Dimes to offer the state’s first NyICU family support program. The program offers education, assistance and peer support to parents experiencing the challenges and emotions of caring for a premature baby.

Many of the unit’s staff have worked in the NyICU for more than 20 years. The NyICU also offers nursing expertise not found at other Phoenix hospitals – the unit is staffed with 10 flight nurses capable of providing the most advanced care during the most complicated situations. Depending on patient needs, the nurse staffing ratio falls between 1:1 or 1:2 in the ICU and 1:3 in the Intermediate ICU.

Not only is the NyICU an exceptional center for care, it is also a leader among healthcare providers. By 2010, St. Joseph’s will become the home for NIDCAP® (Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program) training, providing tools and education to all Level II and III nurseries in the state.