St. Mary Celebrates Advances in Neonatal Care

There’s no denying the miracles of modern medicine, especially when it comes to caring for the tiniest and most critically ill newborn patients in the St. Mary Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Just ask Prem Marlapudi, MD, Medical Director of the NICU, who has been with the unit since it opened in 1989 and has seen many advances in neonatal care during the past 20 years. "We are proud of the NICU and are particularly proud of our mortality, morbidity, and infection rates, which are very low compared to NICUs of the same level nationally," notes Marlapudi. "Yet we are most proud of our patients and the incredible progress that they make during their time in the NICU and especially once they go home with their families. Our patients become like family, and we frequently have parents stop by to visit us and bring in their now healthy children to show us how far they have come."

NICU Reunion Photo Show

It’s these amazing advances — and the healthy children and young adults who overcame the odds — that St. Mary celebrated during its Precious Pumpkins Picnic – NICU 20th Anniversary Reunion on October 24. The event, held from 11 am to 2 pm in the St. Mary Child Development Center, brought together former NICU patients and their families, physicians, nurses, colleagues, volunteers, and the community to recognize the high-quality care provided by the St. Mary NICU.

One of the first patients to benefit from the NICU’s highly specialized care is now 20-year-old college sophomore Patrick Donohue, who was born at 33 weeks gestation, unable to breathe on his own due to severely underdeveloped lungs. He is the son of St. Mary’s Director of Marketing and Communications Patrick Donohue, who still recalls those terrifying early struggles in his son’s life. "At that time, the medication to help under-developed lungs was not FDA-approved, which it is now. Back then, when a baby was born six weeks early and weighing 5.5 pounds, it was considered life-threatening. Now, however, the expert physicians, nurses, and staff, along with advances in medicine, enable us to save the lives of patients born even more prematurely and weighing less than a pound," the senior Donohue says. The younger Donohue, a dean’s list student, was one of several speakers during the NICU reunion. “I am truly thankful that I have been able to live my life without medical complications. The lungs that were once in question have allowed me to wrestle for 13 years; they also have allowed me to excel in many other sports throughout my life,” he shared with the audience.

Joining in the celebration were speaker Annisha Zegarski, with her husband, Michael, and their daughter, Sunny, who was born at 30 weeks gestation in 2007 and spent 58 days in the NICU; Marie Schickler, RNC, Director of Nursing/Maternal–Child Health and Medical–Surgical Units; and Patty Crocker, Nurse Manager, Obstetrics/Gynecology and Nurseries.
"It was thrilling to hear the many success stories over the years and to see the outpouring of love and gratitude from the parents in regards to the care their children received,"Schickler says. "Without the expertise and dedication of our staff, and St. Mary’s commitment to providing 24-hour neonatal care for the community, we could not have made these miracles happen."

Through the Decades:
Advances in Neonatal Care at St. Mary
Soon after opening, the NICU became the first in the area to use surfactant therapy to help premature infants with respiratory problems.

• In the 1990s, another major advancement came with the use of a high-frequency ventilation protocol for premature infants that helped lessen the trauma to a baby’s lungs when receiving treatment.
  
• Today, our NICU is a six-bed unit with an additional six beds in its transitional nursery that is used for babies undergoing longer-term care. It also includes a private home-like visiting area for families.
  
• Our state-of-the-art NICU is staffed by board-certified neonatologists (physicians specially trained in high-risk newborn care) and nurses fully trained in neonatal medicine, including neonatal CPR.
  
• In April 2009, the St. Mary NICU became the first neonatal intensive care unit in Bucks County to have board-certified neonatologists in-house 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additionally, recently purchased warmer beds incorporate the latest in monitoring technology and equipment.