Good Samaritan Medical Center Unveils Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Modernization and Expansion Project
Good Samaritan Medical Center unveiled its new state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on May 10. This $9M modernization project will allow Good Samaritan to provide the highest quality of care for our tiniest, fragile patients and their families, helping in their development and promoting healing. More than 1,800 babies are born at Good Samaritan each year and last year, 127 spent some time in the NICU.
Good Samaritan boasts 12 single-family, private NICU rooms so parents can sleep and stay with their precious babies around the clock. The rooms each have natural light and the unit has a cutting-edge circadian rhythm light system that supports the babies’ wake and sleep cycles. The new space will also include a family kitchen and lounge and a “nutrition room” where mothers’ milk and donor human milk will be stored.
“We have seen that when the family is nearby, the baby heals faster and can go home sooner,” said Samantha Coleman, NICU Manager. “Having a baby in the NICU can be a really stressful time for families and we want our care to be family-centered. We are so grateful to be able to bring the latest in NICU technology and design to our community’s growing families.”
A core team of neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners and physician assistants are specially trained and experienced at providing high quality, expert care to premature and critically ill infants. All rooms are within the visual site of a nursing charting station or main desk to ensure direct visualization of all infants.
To create single-family rooms, the third floor of the hospital expanded to more than 8,200 square feet in the past year. The new space is four times larger than the space of the original NICU. The latest construction techniques were used to minimize noise and vibration so the current NICU could continue to safely serve the community. An interdisciplinary team worked together to design the new space, which includes special lighting and flooring for optimal neural development and healing, and a special room for twins who need NICU care.
“This exciting redesign will make life easier for our NICU parents, allowing them to have a home base at the hospital for the entirety of their stay, whether that is for just a few days or for several months,” said Tonya Chapin, Nursing Director of The Baby Place at Good Samaritan Medical Center. “Traditionally we have been able to support NICU parents staying overnight in a separate room of the hospital, but the new NICU will allow them to be in the same room as their babies at all times.”
Good Samaritan was the first Colorado hospital to be a designated Baby-Friendly Hospital and has been ranked “high-performing” in maternity care by U.S. News and World Report. We are a community hospital that consistently provides compassionate, safe and high quality care for our newborns, while providing parents with the information and resources they need to support their growing healthy family.