Anyone who has ever had to deal with the challenges of a premature baby can tell you it's one of the most unsettling times of their lives.
At a time when most parents and grandparents should be bubbling over with joy, these families are wracked with worry, wondering from one day to the
next—sometimes one hour or minute to the next—how these little ones will fare. They want to be with these babies as much as they can.
Yet, life goes on. Other children need tending, work may beckon—for dad and grandparents, at least—and everyday tasks like laundry, meal preparation
and lawn mowing don't take care of themselves.
A California hospital is making it easier now for family members who don't want to step away from those wee tots with teeny feet and heads so small
they often will fit inside a parent's hand. It wants parents to feel as if they're in touch with their preemies, even when they aren't touching them in
person.
The Orange County Register
reports
that St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif. installed cameras with a live video feed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) so parents feel
connected with babies, even when those tiny fingers aren't wrapped around theirs.
Because of the cameras, Albert Silva, a truck driver, can watch his young son from an iPad even when he's on the road hundreds of miles away.
The Nicview system, which cost $30,000, is password-protected and provides video from a camera on an IV pole above each baby's incubator. Cameras are
turned off for three hours daily while medical staff makes rounds.
But Dr. David Hicks, director of the NICU, says he waves at the camera when he examines babies.
"We've been trying to figure out how to connect with the families," Hicks says. "Sometimes they can't be here all the time in the ICU, or mom is in the
intensive care unit herself. It seems to have worked out quite nicely."
In 10 days, the Nicview system at St. Jude had more than 2,000 views from 74 cities in California, 20 states and two foreign countries. The average
visit was about seven minutes, and a number of visits were from smart phones.
"It's just peace of mind," Silva said. "You look over and he's sleeping. We're taking a shower and he's right there on the sink."
Where were these cameras 13 years ago when my grandson spent six weeks in a regional NICU?
Does your NICU use baby cams? How do you communicate about them to new parents and the community?
One way St. Jude shared the good news was through its Facebook page.