As one of four children’s hospitals in Chicago, IL, Sinai Children’s
Hospital annually cares for 400 premature or low birth weight infants
in its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). As part of its
family-centered approach to quality healthcare and patient
satisfaction, the NICU established a Small Baby Room with space for
eight beds in order to focus on the most vulnerable and at risk
patients. An important piece of equipment used in caring for the babies
assigned to the Small Baby Room is an OmniBed, a high tech infant bed
designed to serve as an isolette or open bed. Another specialized type
of equipment for critically ill babies is a Neopuff™ infant ventilator
that delivers an even flow of oxygen at lower pressures to the babies’
lungs. The Will Rogers Institute gift will enable Sinai Children's
Hospital to purchase an OmniBed and 10 Neopuff™ infant ventilators.
(Photo: Tony Kerasotes, President and CEO of Kerasotes Theatres, visits the NICU unit at Sinai Children's Hospital.)
The gift from the Will Rogers Institute to Prentice Women’s Hospital,
also in Chicago, IL, will help pay the costs associated with delivering
inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) therapy to low birth weight babies with
respiratory problems in the Renée Shine Crown Neonatal Intensive Care
Unit (NICU). A recent study published in the New England Journal of
Medicine showed that carefully monitored use of iNO therapy helps ease
breathing by relaxing the blood vessels in the lungs. iNO has been
shown to decrease the development of chronic lung disease, reduce total
days on a mechanical ventilator, reduce time in the hospital and result
in improved lung outcomes at one year of age.
(Photo: From left, Rita Terterian, Philanthropy Director, Northwestern Memorial Foundation; Pat Samuelson, Will Rogers Institute; Tony Kerasotes , President and CEO of Kerasotes; and Jean Przybylek,Vice President of Operations at Prentice Women’s Hospital.)
