Sturgeon hospital to receive neonatal intensive care unit
ST. ALBERT St. Albert newborns requiring a higher level of care will soon be able to receive that treatment at the local Sturgeon Community Hospital, where a new, six-unit neonatal intensive care unit is expected to open in 2019.
Health Minister Sarah Hoffman announced the $2.3-million project Monday, characterizing the new NICU as necessary for the hospital’s increasingly busy maternity ward, which is set to surpass 3,000 deliveries per year.
The hospital currently does not have such a unit, which means babies requiring intensive care must go to one of four Edmonton hospitals that have a NICU.
“Instead of travelling to one of Edmonton’s larger hospitals, (families) can stay together close to home,” Hoffman told a news conference at the hospital.
“It’s also good for the broader Edmonton zone because we do have a need for increased neonatal intensive care spaces, and this will help us address that. These six spaces will be, we imagine, well used when they open.”
Funding for the project was included in the government’s 2017-18 Infrastructure Maintenance Program, which set aside $144 million to improve health facilities.
The new unit will have four beds in an open NICU room, along with two private beds, a secure medication room and a large family washroom. The Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation is launching a donation campaign to raise $2.5 million to equip the unit.
St. Albert mother Amber Kent said the need for a NICU at the hospital recently became obvious to her when her twin boys, Caellum and Bodie, were born prematurely 61/2 months into her pregnancy.
The births happened suddenly and unexpectedly.
“It was very scary time. I knew I should be at the (Royal) Alex or somewhere with a NICU,” Kent said. “Knowing the resources weren’t here was a little terrifying.”
The boys were rushed to the Royal Alex’s neonatal unit, while Kent had to stay at the Sturgeon to recover from her emergency caesarean section.
She was eventually transferred to the Alex eight hours later, but such transfers don’t always happen so quickly.
“My boys were sent away to a different hospital and I had to wait here, which was not ideal. I didn’t even know what they looked like,” Kent said.
“Having an NICU here allows the mom to feel that much more connected with their kids and to know they’re safe.”
It was very scary time ... Knowing the resources weren’t here was a little terrifying.