There are many ways to participate.
Donations to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are the best way to help sick newborns and their families thrive. Donations to Obstetrics will ensure expectant moms and their babies get the best care before and during delivery.
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – Here’s how you can help.
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NICU Transitional Care Unit
The heart of St. Michael’s NICU is a nearly 2,000 sq. ft. Transitional Care Unit with up to 15 bassinettes for infants as they get stronger and begin their journey home. Babies stay anywhere from three to 12 weeks. Bassinettes are arranged in semi-divided areas around the perimeter, allowing our expert medical staff to continually monitor babies’ needs. Everyone benefits, including our most disadvantaged patients.
Our Transitional Care Unit keeps families together because studies show that’s what produces the best health outcomes. Our physicians and clinicians provide everything families need to help them feel confident as they prepare to go home – from peer-to-peer support and nursing care, to nutrition education and lactation advice.
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NICU Resuscitation Area (Golden Hour Room)
In neonatal resuscitation, the Golden Hour is the critical period following birth, when immediate medical treatment can save lives.
Critically ill babies need the right expertise and equipment in a space that optimizes how care is delivered.
Fitted with the latest technologies, our much larger resuscitation area will have state-of-the-art audio and video monitoring, allowing us to constantly assess how we can improve our teamwork and make our systems safer.
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NICU Family Lounge
Family and friends need a place to de-stress and regroup after spending time with their very ill baby. A NICU Family Lounge is essential because babies thrive when parents are less stressed.
Our Family Lounge is that place – cheerful, modern and comfortable – where parents can catch their breath. With panoramic views of the city, plenty of natural light and cozy couches, parents can get the reprieve they need with a shower or a quick meal – whatever might help take their mind off things for just a little while.
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NICU Breast Pump Room
Our Breast Pump Room is a quiet, comfortable area for moms to express their milk with high quality pumps, providing babies with ‘liquid gold,’ even before the babies know how to suck and swallow.
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NICU Care by Parent Rooms (2)
Going home is a victory. It can also be frightening as parents leave behind the support of professionals, especially if their baby has ongoing health issues.
Parent Rooms offer a safe place to develop skills and confidence, with expert help just outside the door. Each room is furnished with a crib, pullout bed that sleeps two, comfortable chairs, a TV and a full washroom. Medical equipment is hidden away, but close by.
In some heartbreaking cases, no amount of care can save a baby. When the worst happens, these rooms offer a private space where babies receive palliative care and parents can grieve.
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NICU Nursing Stations
Our Nursing Stations will be right outside our care-by-parent rooms, ensuring immediate help if it’s necessary.
With preemies, every minute counts. Placing nursing stations just steps from babies and their families means help is never more than seconds away. And when one nurse is busy, a second nurse provides continuous patient monitoring.
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NICU Staff Lounge
Our doctors, nurses, social workers and other health experts sometimes need a break so they can return to moms and babies refreshed and refocused.
This lounge will help. Located in the southwest corner of the new Peter Gilgan Patient Care Tower, it will have a wide view of the downtown core and offer a kitchenette, eating area and couches to relax.
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NICU Nutrition Room
Every high-functioning NICU needs a sterile, state-of-the-art nutrition preparation area for nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians and other experts. The science behind neonatal growth is brought to life right here. The more diligent we are about nutrition, the better brain function is in the longer-term.
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Private Patient Care Rooms (12)
No one goes to the NICU by choice. The situation can be scary, emotionally difficult and often physically painful for everyone involved.
The right environment is essential. Several studies show that mothers and families who are able to care for their babies in a private setting experience less stress – and babies cared for in a Family-Integrated Care (FiCare) facility tend to gain weight faster and are more likely to breastfeed when they go home. Private rooms can also help reduce the spread of infection, particularly important for babies with underdeveloped immune systems.
Our new NICU will feature 12 state-of-the-art single-rooms with the latest equipment. These rooms have large windows with natural light and views of the city. Babies who are critically ill and families who participate in their care in the first weeks of life need these spaces to give their babies the best start possible.
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Quiet Room
When privacy is essential or conversations are difficult, everyone needs a little space.
This is it. Here, families can meet with physicians to hear the news or plan next steps.
Or, it might just be a place of refuge when mom or dad needs to be alone. With sofas, loungers and a television, it’s a safe space that can help mitigate the stress of a tough situation.
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NICU Incubators
When neonatal babies are first born, they are small and fragile. They need quiet, enclosed and temperature-controlled incubators. As they become stronger, they can be transferred to open bassinettes where their bodies learn to adjust to ambient temperatures. Both types of cribs are designed to accommodate the latest technology to help babies on their journey home.
Obstetrics: Here’s how you can help
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Obstetrics Triage and Assessment Unit
Our current, cramped triage and assessment room has only curtains separating patients.
We are transforming it into a larger area that offers more discretion and better infection control. This expanded space will allow our health experts to more efficiently assess the needs of moms. Our twice-as-large triage area will feature private birthing rooms, where labouring mothers can be cared for with the dignity they deserve.
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Labour and Delivery Waiting Room
Patience is a virtue, but sometimes it can be difficult to wait for a newborn’s arrival. The waiting room is a beautiful space where family and friends can gather in anticipation of new life.
With nearly 3,000 babies born at St. Michael’s each year, this will be a bustling place, teeming with excitement as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and others wait for the big news.
Located next to the Obstetrics Triage and Assessment Unit, labouring mothers will have ready access to expert care.
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Conference Room
Sharing knowledge and ideas can save lives. It leads to better practices, techniques and technologies. The conference room is the epicentre of innovation, a place where the best medical minds can consult on cases.
Outfitted with the latest audiovisual and communications technology, the conference room will provide our teams with the tools they need to work smarter, and the capacity to connect with patients in remote locations via telemedicine.
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High-Dependency Unit
This state-of-the-art high dependency unit is designed for mothers who need special medical attention, all the while staying close to their newborns. No need to leave their babies for an intensive care unit, several floors away.
Moms may be recovering from a traumatic event such as a car accident or toxemia. Some may need specialized care for complications arising from chronic diseases such as cystic fibrosis or multiple sclerosis.
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Obstetrics Administrative Area
Here is where the unsung work of running our Mother and Baby Care Unit will happen. While our team spends most of its time caring for patients, staff also need to review charts, assess priorities, hold quick consults and prepare for procedures.
This area combines our back-office requirements with a warm and welcoming reception space for patients.
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Labour and Delivery Staff Lounge
The long hours and emotional and physical demands of caring for our tiniest, most vulnerable patients can be taxing. What’s needed is a place for staff to relax and recharge so they can continue to offer the high-standard of care for which we are so well known.
This lounge will help. Outfitted with a kitchenette, eating area and couches, it offers hard-working staff a place to unwind so they can be at their best.
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Individual Recovery Rooms (3)
These rooms will offer increased privacy and enhanced infection control, while promoting quicker recovery with natural light. They will also feature the latest equipment and technology for the best care.
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Labour and Delivery On-Call Rooms
Newborns rarely follow a schedule. While we try to predict the exact day of a baby’s arrival, they often have their own ideas. And so we are ready 24/7 to help an expectant mother bring new life into the world.
This quiet space is where our on-call experts can relax while waiting to spring into action.