The Jennifer Gandel Kachura Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is more than a unit at Sinai Hospital: it's also a place where families find hope during a difficult time.
The 21-bed unit handles a full range of medical problems of premature and critically ill newborns. Most premature babies stay in the hospital until their due date. When the NICU newborns do go home, many families stay in touch with the staff.
That's why on Sunday, 70 families will revisit Sinai Hospital's Zamoiski Auditorium for a NICU reunion. The event will run from 1 to 4 p.m.
The children will enjoy games and adults can catch up with NICU staff, all the while celebrating how far their babies have come. The event will also feature a slide show of the NICU graduates.
Showing posts with label NICU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NICU. Show all posts
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Celebrate National Social Work Month
In honor of Professional Social Work Month, we sat down with Jennifer Gandel Kachura Neonatal Intensive Care Unit social worker Erin Gillard, LCSW-C. Erin is one of the many dedicated social workers in the LifeBridge Health system, and spends her days helping families with pre-term infants.
Q: Why did you choose a career in social work?
I've always had an interest in helping people and being an advocate. Social work was a natural fit. You are empowering people to find their own inner resources.
Q: What's an average day for you like in the NICU?
I meet with the families of babies who are newly admitted. I talk to them about their support system, and can connect them to the proper people or groups. There can be a range of psychosocial issues for families, ranging from helping teen parents to someone with a mental health or substance abuse problem. I run a support group twice a month for families of babies in the NICU. I spend the afternoons connecting with family members that I may miss during the day. During the week I spend 30 hours in the NICU and 10 hours on obstetric coverage. I spend as much time with a family as necessary.
Q: How long do you work with families?
I have babies who are here for 24 hours and babies who are here for months. But even when the infants go home, we keep in touch with the families. That's one of the reasons for our NICU reunion next month - it gives people a chance to get together and reflect on what was a critical time in their lives.
Q: What's the biggest challenge of being a social worker?
It can be frustrating to help families navigate the red tape around issues like insurance.
Q: What's the best part?
It's a privilege that people allow you into their lives at such a difficult time. And every day is different. It's a good feeling when you can support someone. Having a baby is such a special time and people really rally. You often see people at their best.
To see job opportunities at LifeBridge Health, click here.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Diabetes and Pregnancy Quilt Wins Honors
by Anna Ostreicher, M.S, CRNP, CDE, Diabetes and Pregnancy Education and Management Program, LifeBridge Health
Our Diabetes and Pregnancy Education and Training Program started in 2001 and is the only program in Maryland that's dedicated strictly to diabetes in pregnancy. The cornerstone of diabetes education is to follow the diet plan that we provide.
In honor of the program, Dotsy Selway, a medical practice associate at Sinai, and I made a quilt that represents healthy choices from the fruit and vegetable food groups, and it won the first prize in the beginner category in the Harford County Fair and the second prize in the Maryland State Fair. We are pictured here with the quilt
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The Diabetes and Pregnancy Education and Training Program serves approximately 200 diabetic and gestational diabetic women per year. The majority of these women of childbearing age residing in Baltimore and surrounding counties in Maryland.
The objective is to have patients understand more about diabetes and, perhaps more importantly, how to adopt a healthier lifestyle that will contribute to better health and outcomes for mother and baby. For example, we include regular monitoring of blood glucose that will help them to achieve optimal glycemic control prior to conception, during pregnancy, and after the baby is born, plus better understanding of food choices and the difference healthy eating will make in their ability to manage their diabetes.
The benefits of the program are primarily the prevention of birth defects, and adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, macrosomia, neonatal hypoglycemia and other metabolic derangements. All these preventive efforts have multiple benefits for the patient, the hospital, physician providers and the community at large.
The direct impact manifests in lower length of stay for mothers and their babies: less NICU and ICU admissions, better maternal-infant bonding, less physician time spent with patient education and following blood glucose levels, and a more effective and efficient patient management process.
Many of our referred clinic patients have no health insurance or inadequate coverage, thereby inhibiting and sometimes preventing them the ability to secure necessary medical supplies to help manage their condition during pregnancy. We work hard to help those in need of financial assistance.
To learn more about the Diabetes and Pregnancy Program, call 410-601-WELL (9355).
Our Diabetes and Pregnancy Education and Training Program started in 2001 and is the only program in Maryland that's dedicated strictly to diabetes in pregnancy. The cornerstone of diabetes education is to follow the diet plan that we provide.
In honor of the program, Dotsy Selway, a medical practice associate at Sinai, and I made a quilt that represents healthy choices from the fruit and vegetable food groups, and it won the first prize in the beginner category in the Harford County Fair and the second prize in the Maryland State Fair. We are pictured here with the quilt
.The Diabetes and Pregnancy Education and Training Program serves approximately 200 diabetic and gestational diabetic women per year. The majority of these women of childbearing age residing in Baltimore and surrounding counties in Maryland.
The objective is to have patients understand more about diabetes and, perhaps more importantly, how to adopt a healthier lifestyle that will contribute to better health and outcomes for mother and baby. For example, we include regular monitoring of blood glucose that will help them to achieve optimal glycemic control prior to conception, during pregnancy, and after the baby is born, plus better understanding of food choices and the difference healthy eating will make in their ability to manage their diabetes.
The benefits of the program are primarily the prevention of birth defects, and adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, macrosomia, neonatal hypoglycemia and other metabolic derangements. All these preventive efforts have multiple benefits for the patient, the hospital, physician providers and the community at large.
The direct impact manifests in lower length of stay for mothers and their babies: less NICU and ICU admissions, better maternal-infant bonding, less physician time spent with patient education and following blood glucose levels, and a more effective and efficient patient management process.
Many of our referred clinic patients have no health insurance or inadequate coverage, thereby inhibiting and sometimes preventing them the ability to secure necessary medical supplies to help manage their condition during pregnancy. We work hard to help those in need of financial assistance.
To learn more about the Diabetes and Pregnancy Program, call 410-601-WELL (9355).
Friday, May 29, 2009
Sinai NICU Helps Babies Gain Strength
Diane Boulay was 27 weeks into her pregnancy when, uncertain if her premature labor could be stopped, she was admitted to Sinai Hospital and placed on bed rest. Less than three weeks later, Alexander Marc Boulay was born, weighing just three pounds, one ounce.“Within 24 hours, I was holding Alex and I was encouraged to breastfeed,” recalls Boulay, who spent the next four days and nights in the Jennifer Gandel Kachura Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Sinai Hospital, where Alexander would remain for the next month.
“I knew the quality of care at Sinai was top notch and I could not be in better hands,” says Boulay, who is enjoying life at home with a happy, healthy Alex and his 6-year-old sister, Anna.
All Sinai NICU physicians are board certified in Pediatrics and in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. Parents, grandparents and healthy siblings can visit 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The NICU is equipped to provide the most state-of-the-art care to sick newborns. Sinai’s newborn nursery was one of the first in the region to institute universal jaundice screening with the goal of decreasing the number of severe jaundice cases.
Sinai’s Level III+ NICU consistently ranks among the top 20 percent of care units in the nation. The Pediatric department covers most subspecialties, including pediatric surgery.The NICU is a member of a nationwide consortium of more than 450 neonatal centers—the Vermont-Oxford Neonatal Network—which serves as an information resource and database management for NICU statistics.
For more information about the Sinai NICU or Institute for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, or to be referred to a physician specializing in neonatology, call 410-601-WELL (9355).
“I knew the quality of care at Sinai was top notch and I could not be in better hands,” says Boulay, who is enjoying life at home with a happy, healthy Alex and his 6-year-old sister, Anna.
All Sinai NICU physicians are board certified in Pediatrics and in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. Parents, grandparents and healthy siblings can visit 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The NICU is equipped to provide the most state-of-the-art care to sick newborns. Sinai’s newborn nursery was one of the first in the region to institute universal jaundice screening with the goal of decreasing the number of severe jaundice cases.
Sinai’s Level III+ NICU consistently ranks among the top 20 percent of care units in the nation. The Pediatric department covers most subspecialties, including pediatric surgery.The NICU is a member of a nationwide consortium of more than 450 neonatal centers—the Vermont-Oxford Neonatal Network—which serves as an information resource and database management for NICU statistics.
For more information about the Sinai NICU or Institute for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, or to be referred to a physician specializing in neonatology, call 410-601-WELL (9355).
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