September is NICU Awareness Month

Sunday, October 2nd, 2022 -- 11:00 AM

According to the National Library of Medicine, around 10 – 15 percent of all babies born in the US spend time in a neonatal intensive care unit.

September is NICU Awareness Month, a month designed to honor NICU families and the health professionals who care for them. A NICU offers one of four levels of care, specializing in caring for ill or premature infants and newborns.

While in the NICU, specially-trained neonatal doctors and nurses work closely with other specialist to care for infants in need of advanced care after delivery. Aspirus Health provides a Level III NICU at Aspirus Wausau Hospital (AWH) which delivers comprehensive care for more seriously ill newborns.

“At AWH we take in critical ill babies from all over the state. These very fragile and vulnerable patients need extra special care so that they can go home with their families as soon as possible,” says Emilie Puig, registered nurse and clinical educator in the NICU at AWH. “Whether a child stays with us for four hours or four months, we want the parents and child to feel as comfortable and assured as they can here."

AWH has the region’s only single-family room model for critically ill babies, meaning parents can stay with their infant 24/7. Each baby has different needs and it’s important that the hospital is prepared to aid in anything that may be.

Hospitals in the United States that provide special nursing and medical care for babies are divided into four levels depending on the degree of care offered.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.