TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — One in ten babies in the United States is born pre-term, and even more are placed in intensive care for other health reasons.
A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU, specializes in caring for newborn babies with health complications.
Jennifer Haraah is the Nursing Care Manager of NICU and Pediatrics at Union Health. She said this can be the most stressful time in a parent’s life.
“We wrap our arms around the family unit, we have lots of support for them”, Harrah said. “Having a baby is stressful enough; having a baby that has to go to the NICU adds another level of stress.”
Union Health in Terre Haute was the first hospital with a NICU in the state of Indiana, opening in January of 1968. The hospital is currently a level three NICU with nurses, like Kaitlin Neyhart, caring for newborns at all hours of the day.
“I provide the direct patient care to the babies here”, Neyhart said. “The assessments, labs, feeding, any care that they need here, I do that. I also attend deliveries, admissions, discharges.”
Harrah said her favorite part about being in the NICU is watching parents witness their child’s firsts and seeing them leave healthy.
“For their baby to hit three pounds, or four pounds, or five pounds, those are huge milestones”, Harrah said. “For their baby to come off of oxygen or for their baby to take a bottle, those are all huge milestones. Just to experience the joy that the families have in those situations it brings me pride in knowing what we can provide to the community here.”
Along with having Indiana’s first NICU, Union Health is the only level three or better NICU in the Wabash Valley for the state of Indiana.
