Hospital’s treatment breathes life

Every few days, Joe Shields talks to some of the other parents who are still in Columbus, still waiting for their babies to get better. He’s happy to be back home in Pennsylvania but misses those connections.

“You’re in a situation that not a lot of people can understand, or even fathom,” Shields said. “It was bittersweet leaving.”

Infants are sometimes toddlers by the time they leave the special inpatient unit at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where Shields’ twin sons spent months being treated for bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or BPD.