Heritage Snapshot: Part 189

Under the inspiration of Naomi E. Pitman, MD, Chul C. Cha, MD, and Joyce L. Peabody, MD, NICU officials designed a new neonatal intensive care unit including amenities to afford infants and staff a quiet environment. Sound-absorbing materials on ceilings, floors, and walls contribute to the calm atmosphere. Numerous windows help provide an open and light atmosphere. Counseling offices within the unit provide privacy for neonatologists and social workers as they confer with parents in total confidentiality. Facilities include a room where parents, before taking their baby home, can spend the night and learn any special care techniques their little one may need. Additionally, by joining research efforts with clinical specialties, the Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital positioned itself to handle a wide variety of critically ill, premature, or injured patients. Now licensed for 84 patients, the NICU is one of the largest, most advanced, and most intelligently-designed facilities in America. The Children’s Hospital provides a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for older children. It has become one of the busiest PICU centers in the nation, dealing with 1,700 intensive-care admissions a year. Including intermediate-care patients, the unit serves well over 2,400 patients a year. To enhance patient-care outcomes, the PICU distinguished itself by improving pre-hospital care. One of the major challenges facing sick and injured children is that they often do not receive proper care until arriving on the unit. During that time, of course, their condition can deteriorate even further. To improve paramedic and emergency care for pediatric trauma cases throughout inland Southern California, PICU staff teaches paramedic courses at Crafton Hills College, Yucaipa, as well as in emergency medicine at the School of Medicine. When children with cancer are treated with conventional radiation, their hormone system is devastated. For them to survive requires considerable endocrine help. When the Proton Treatment Center opened in 1990, the Children’s Hospital became the only one in the world to have access to the most sophisticated form of radiation therapy available. It is most often used to treat children with brain tumors. Because protons can be focused on these tumors with sub-millimeter precision, less of the surrounding tissue is impacted, and outcome is much more favorable. On March 9, 1992, the Medical Center opened its new TotalCare Birth Center. The unit contains ten labor-delivery-recovery rooms that have been designed for patient privacy in a homelike atmosphere. With the exception of those who require a caesarean section in the former labor and delivery area, mothers stay in one room throughout their hospitalization. Depending on the mother’s wishes, family members and/or friends may attend the birthing process or any portion of it. The rooms, with windows, are larger than the former labor and delivery rooms. Following recovery, the mother is moved to the postpartum unit, a vital component of the TotalCare Birth Center. Depending on the mother’s wishes, the baby may stay in the room with her part time or full time. Unnecessary separation is eliminated and bonding can start immediately. One nurse provides comprehensive care to both mother and infant. The Medical Center has equipped the unit to handle high-risk deliveries, when necessary. If a problem arises with either mother or baby, attendants access the emergency equipment available in each room. If the facility has a really high-risk baby, staff will call a team from the neonatal intensive care unit—a physician, nurse, and respiratory therapist. They will be available in seconds. A red phone at the nurses’ station doesn’t even have to be dialed. When the receiver is picked up, the telephone automatically rings the nearby NICU. In 2009 Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital became the first children’s hospital in the nation to be awarded the coveted “Baby-Friendly’ designation from Baby-Friendly USA, the national authority of the Baby-Friendly Health Initiative in the United States. The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund to encourage and recognize hospitals that offer an optimal level of care for lactation. During the awards ceremony, San Bernardino County district supervisor Gary Ovitt, who chaired the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, noted that the Inland Empire is now officially “the ‘Baby-friendliest’ region of the United States.” To prepare parents for the birthing experience, the TotalCare Birth Center offers classes that provide information about pre-birth care, the birth experience, and follow-up care of the mother and baby. While hospitalized, mothers can access a closed-circuit television channel to view a variety of programs (also available in Spanish). These include breast-feeding, care of the newborn, bathing the baby, car-seat safety, and instructions on what to do when the infant gets sick. Whatever the reason for being hospitalized, children and their parents can know that when they come to Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, they are in a good facility. It was designed to meet their special needs, and their caretakers are dedicated to their physical and emotional needs.