Northwest Health | SPRING 2009 By Julia Vouri

When Rebecca Parrish and Brendan Jansen's baby was born premature last November, the couple was terrified. "But the nurses at the Group Health Special Care Nursery were so reassuring," says Parrish. "They encouraged us to take care of our son, Sterling, as much as possible during the 16 days we were there and made us feel at home."

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The Special Care Nursery, part of Central Hospital on the Group Health Capitol Hill Campus in Seattle, is a Level 2 nursery that can care for high-risk babies who are up to 2 months premature. The nursery is staffed by newborn specialists, neonatologists, and specially trained nurses, and is fully equipped with the latest equipment and technology.

The facility provides beds for 15 infants, as well as the opportunity for new parents to board in private rooms in the adjacent Group Health Family Beginnings Birthing Center.

"We're a small facility, so we can give more personalized care and allow new parents to be close to their babies in an intimate, healing environment," says Jane Hutcheson, RN, director of Central Hospital Clinical Operations. "We want to keep babies skin-to-skin with their parents as much as possible, so they can feel their touch and hear their voices."

The nursery cares for about 20 babies a month who are born premature or have other conditions, such as heart or congenital problems, respiratory depression, or jaundice. Many infants in the Special Care Nursery need to be in incubators, says Hutcheson.

"Premature babies can't maintain their own body heat — which can affect their ability to breathe, maintain glucose levels, and gain weight. They need to be in a protected environment until they can maintain their own warmth, eat the necessary amounts and gain weight, and be off supplemental oxygen."

Bilirubin lights to treat jaundice are also frequently used. This blue-spectrum light disperses jaundice from the baby's skin and can speed an infant's release from the nursery by as much as one or two days.

"Our goal is to get babies healthy and home with their parents as soon as possible, and to thoroughly prepare parents so they'll feel confident caring for their newborns themselves," says Hutcheson.

Parrish admits that she and Jansen were nervous at first at the thought of heading home with their son. "He'd been monitored so closely for weeks. But by the time he was released, we were feeling fine and ready to go home together."

A Network for Newborn Babies

In addition to our Special Care Nursery in Seattle, Group Health has partnerships with nurseries throughout Central and Eastern Washington to provide both Level 2 (for babies up to 2 months premature) and Level 3 (for babies born more than 2 months early) care.

A few of our contracted nurseries include Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Yakima, Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, and Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Spokane. Group Health care managers coordinate babies' care at our contracted facilities, and hospitalists (physicians based in the hospital full time) monitor their care.