American Fork Hospital just completed a new newborn intensive care unit (NICU), which will serve twice as many of the youngest babies. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held last month, and the first babies were admitted to the new unit on October 25.
“As northern Utah County has grown, there has been greater need in our community for NICU services,” says Shaun Odell, MD, medical director of the American Fork NICU. “As a Level 2 NICU, we had ten beds to serve babies as young as 34 weeks gestation. It was a sort of open floor environment, and while it served us well for several years, we felt we owed our community more.”
Thanks to generous donors, the new NICU has 20 individual rooms and can help babies as young as 32 weeks, or two months premature.
The NICU team working in the new space.
American Fork Hospital has between 2,500 and 3,000 births each year, and that number keeps growing. In the last several years, the NICU has admitted on average 300 newborns each year.
Dr. Odell says when a baby was going to be born too young or needed care beyond what his team could provide, a tough decision had to be made to send mother and newborn to Utah Valley Hospital in Provo or Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake. With the new NICU, more babies can stay in American Fork.
“Study after study shows it is better to keep patients—including newborns—close to home,” he says. “The support group is there, as well as limiting the risk and cost of transferring a patient.”
Susan Robel spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony
The new space occupies an area of the hospital that was empty after another pediatric department was consolidated to Utah Valley Hospital in preparation to join Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi.
“We were able to completely remodel the area to meet our needs,” says Dr. Odell.
The new 20 NICU beds are all in private rooms, which allows parents to stay in the room with their little ones. The doctors and other caregivers have specialized training on how to help these little ones and can provide care around-the-clock.
“We even have three rooms for multiple birth siblings,” says Dr. Odell. “We really did try and evaluate what was needed for our growing community. And as the community grows, we’ll add more services to continue to meet those needs.”
Liz Hartman’s son Ryder is taken into the new NICU
American Fork Hospital NICU manager, Angela Birrell, is excited about the new space. “Every room now has big windows, and this light, bright, hope-filled space creates a wonderful environment,” Angela says. “The natural light also helps the babies normalize their sleep rhythms.”
Angela added that the preparation and training of her team and others across the hospital has made this all come together.
“The planning, education and training will benefit our local families and that’s exciting for our caregivers—we appreciate the opportunity to keep these babies close to home,” she says.
Liz and Ryder
Liz Hartman’s son Ryder is a patient in the NICU.
“With us being in the new NICU for just over 24 hours now, it feels like a home away from home,” Liz says. “Ryder has his own space and my husband and I can be in the room together with Ryder. This was a hard part before we moved because I wanted to be there to support Ryder as much as I could and I wish I could have my husband there to support Ryder as well as me, during this time. This wasn’t an option in the old NICU due to smaller space and being mindful of other families.”
“What a celebration it is that we can now be there to learn and be a part of Ryder’s growth and journey in the NICU together,” Liz adds.