A scrapbooking fundraiser
to benefit
"Let Your Star Shine Bright"
a preemie scrapbooking group
for parents of infants in the
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
The excitement of newborn medicine lies first in the rapid evolution of new technologies, cutting edge developments in clinical and basic science, and bench-to-bedside correlates of human biology that are matched only by the avalanche of new discoveries that change today’s management of old diseases. Each of these features contributes to the overall intensity of neonatology and its ability to re-invent itself nearly every 5 years.
The physicians in the Division of Newborn Medicine at New York Medical College, through their clinical and basic science research investigations, are seeking ways to improve care for extremely preterm babies and other conditions of the newborn. These challenges include newborns born as early as 23 weeks’ gestation - nearly 4 ½ months earlier than the 40 weeks of a full term pregnancy.
The Division of Newborn Medicine is dedicated to the highest quality of patient care, teaching, research outreach and public health. Clinical and Basic Science research projects at the Regional Neonatal Center, a NYS DOH level IV designated program, afford these tiny patients and their families an opportunity to receive new treatments and therapies not available at community hospitals or even at many other major medical centers (e.g., ECMO, Jet and Oscillatory Ventilation, Selective Brain Cooling for asphyxia, High Frequency Ventilation for transport, etc...). We run a network of neonatal intensive care programs at 11 hospitals and coordinate the largest High Risk Neonatal Follow-up Program in New York State.
The Division is also involved with many public health initiatives focused on enhanced access to health care and in identifying opportunities to improve perinatal outcomes for the citizens of our entire 5,000 square mile catchment area through a formal collaboration with the Lower Hudson and Mid-Hudson Valley Perinatal Networks. There have been over 20,000 sick or premature newborns cared for since the Division was established in 1985.
Our Faculty scientists hold leadership positions in many professional societies and are frequent contributors of important perinatal research in multicenter trials, single institution trials, and in basic research.
Studies can be grouped into the following general categories:
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Neonatal brain development and neurological disorders
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Neonatal cardiovascular and respiratory pathophysiology
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Mediators of neonatal inflammation and infections
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Neonatal nutrition, growth and development of the intestine
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Neonatal endocrine disorders and thyroid diseases
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Genetic foundations of neonatal conditions
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Studies on the impact of neonatal intensive care on long-term neurological outcomes
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Population based outcomes and public health initiatives
We have the highest case mix acuity of any hospital in the entire State of New York.
The RNICU cares for over 250 infants with birth weights below 1500 grams, and over 110 patients below 1000 grams each year.
We have the only high-risk neonatal transport program from Westchester to Albany.
It is one of the busiest in the Greater NY Area, with over 220 neonatal transport patients each year.
We routinely apply all of the cutting edge ventilator technologies, including high frequency oscillators, jet ventilators, flow synchronized ventilation and nitric oxide, in a "kinder gentler approach to ventilation." Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygentation (ECMO) is now available. Approximately 20% of admissions are surgical cases, which include acute illness and congenital malformations, requiring cardiac surgery, abdominal surgery, neurosurgery, and orthopedic surgery. Clinical research projects offered to our patients and families provide opportunities to receive new therapies available only in an academic medical center. Our academic program offers positions for twelve Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellows. We are important contributors to perinatal research in multicenter trials, single institution trials, as well as in basic research. Since its inception in 1982, founded by Harry S. Dweck, M.D., more than 17,000 newborns have been cared for in the Regional Neonatal Center. The Division of Neonatology is dedicated to the highest quality of patient care, teaching and research.
When a baby dies, the grief the family experiences is very real. Mutual support can help parents by sharing their thoughts and feelings with others who have shared a similar experience. We offer a neonatal bereavement support and support for families who have had to make the heartbreaking choices to end a pregnancy. Our Pastoral Care Department of Westchester Medical Center is available to offer emotional support and spiritual counseling.
Clinical research projects offered to our patients and families provide opportunities to receive new therapies available only in an academic medical center. We are important contributors to perinatal research in multicenter, single institution trials as well as in basic research. Our Perinatal-Neonatal Fellows are encouraged to develop collaborative research projects with other departments or faculty. Inter-disciplinary interaction is ongoing with Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Pediatric Pulmonology.
Activities of the professional staff are as follows:
rh-GCSF Effects on White Blood Cells in Preterm Neonates
Evaluation of Maldistribution of Oxygen Delivery in VLBW Patients
Postnatal Bacterial Colonization and Pathogenesis of Neonatal Sepsis
Effects of Steroids and Enteral Protein Type on Protein Turnover in VLBW Patients
Stress Mediated Regulation of Adrenal Neurotransmitters
Analysis of Tracheal Aspirates from Neonates with Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Prediction of BPD using Tracheal Aspirate Cyokine Assays
Mechanisms of Apoptotic Lung Injury
Gene Therapy: Aerosolized Delivery of DNA by Cationic Liposomes Targeted to the Alveolar Epithelium
Impact of Heliox on Airway Resistance and Work of Breathing
Nitric Oxide Effects on Peripheral Blood Flow
Multicenter Trial Non-Tidal Volume Ventilation
Bedside Processes Involved in PICC Line Sepsis
Etiology of Rapidly progressive, Late Onset NEC and transfusions
Developmental Outcomes Research: Efficacy and Cost Effectiveness of Single- vs.- multiple out patient interventions
Neonatal oropharyngeal coordination as a predictor of long-term developmental delays
Home based vs. Institutional Based interventional strategies: cost-benefit analysis
Curosurf Clinical Trial of Efficacy and Safety
The Regional Neonatal Center Nursing Staff are involved with the following research protocol(s):
Pharmacologic management of neonatal pain: CRIES score
Our Neonatal Comprehensive Follow-Up Program is part of the Regional Neonatal Center clinical program in affiliation with Children's Rehabilitation Center and WIHD (Westchester Institute of Human Development), a Westchester Medical Center facility. This program is designed to ensure an integrated continuum of care by professionals with expertise in neonatology and development. In the clinic setting there are physical therapists, speech pathologists, neurologist, neonatologist and pediatric developmental specialist. The multidisciplinary team approach allows for comprehensive assessment of the patients needs. We have four easily accessible sites for the High Risk Follow-Up Clinic in the Hudson Valley Region.
Westchester Medical Center AIDS Care Center provides the services of an HIV counseling and testing team. The team is comprised of New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute trained counselors. The focus of the service is to provide confidential HIV pre and post-test counseling for clients who voluntarily agree to have HIV anti-body testing performed. The team is available for HIV counseling (pre-and post test); staff education groups; and patient/client education groups. Counseling and education are available in both English and Spanish.
HIV counseling and testing is encouraged for all individuals, adults, adolescents and children, who may have engaged in high-risk behavior, or are born to a parent(s) who may be at risk, and all prenatal/GYN clinic patients, as a standard of care.
The Lactation Consultant helps mothers and mothers-to-be give their babies the gift of breastfeeding. When your baby is born, you may miss the closeness you experienced when the baby was inside you. Breastfeeding prolongs this closeness in a special way. For almost every baby, it is the healthiest way to be fed, and for mothers, breastfeeding offers long term health benefits. In addition, it's convenient, free, and always available.
Our lactation consultant is dedicated to helping the nursing mother give her baby and herself the gift of breastfeeding and all it has to offer. The lactation consultant is available to answer questions and concerns about why and how to breastfeed and she will explain:
Benefits of breastfeeding (mother & baby)
How to breastfeed
How to know the baby is getting enough breastmilk
What a nursing mother and baby need to eat
Becoming more confident
Nursing while working or in school
Importance of taking folic acid (vitamin supplements)
Our Parent Group is ongoing, and meets the first and third Thursday of each month, from 2:00 - 3:00pm, in the conference room in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
At each session a topic pertaining to having a baby in a neonatal intensive care unit is presented. Issues discussed have been medical aspects of NICU babies, infection prevention and your baby, Kangaroo Care and coping with having your baby in the NICU. After each presentation there is time for parents to ask questions and meet with each other for mutual support. Parents can join at any time. Announcements for each meeting are on the bulletin board in front of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and at the entrance of each room in the NICU. The Parent Group is for families whose babies are hospitalized in The Regional Neonatal Center at Westchester Medical Center and its affiliate hospitals.
Parents who have attended the meetings have described the following benefits:
"I learned so much more about my baby. There were so many questions that I forgot to ask when I visited my baby."
"It gave me the chance to talk to other parents who really understood what I was going through."
"I found out what I could do for my baby when she was in the hospital. There was so much that she was able to do and there was so much that I had never imagined that I could do for her."
The Statewide Perinatal Database System Team (SPDS) exists as an outgrowth of one of the State Department of Health's (DOH) initiatives toward achieving their goal of "improving mother and baby outcomes" in New York State. This initiative involves instituting a statewide perinatal database in every hospital in NYS where maternal/neonatal services are offered. This DOH initiative was conceived about 7 years ago through a series of public hearings in Albany involving health care providers and their medical societies, hospital associations, the managed care industry, and of course, the Department of Health, as sponsors. The data collection portion of the initiative has already been implemented in the Upstate Regions of Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany and our region, The Greater New York (Downstate) Region is now scheduled to come on-line with this process.
The SPDS is designed to give hospitals and public health agencies timely access to data for quality improvement and public health efforts while at the same time providing a mechanism for registering births with the Vital Records program. Our Team will travel to our regional hospitals to provide assistance and support in getting the system up and running in each facility as well as in the analysis of the data generated. Ultimately this data-driven information strategy will enable us as health care providers to identify "best practices" across broad community services and then to plan a system of implementation to optimize the organization of a specialized perinatal health care network.
As the Regional Perinatal Center, Westchester Medical Center and its SPDS Team is dedicated and committed to work with the DOH to formulate an infrastructure for quality improvement which utilizes the state perinatal database to enhance integration of the combined services of our regional hospitals and to accomplish the goal of improving the health outcomes of the women and babies we serve.
Bioethics, Death-and-dying, Consents, DNR and Withdrawal of Care Issues are discussed through a monthly series of reading materials provided in advance (Bioethics Reading Seminar Series), though real consultation on actual cases with faculty and via didactic programs provided by the Department of Pediatrics and Westchester Medical Center. In addition we have multiple IRB approved protocols.
The Regional Transport Program is the only high-risk neonatal transport program from here to Albany and it is one of the busiest in the Greater New York Area. Over 220 neonatal patients are transported annually to the Regional Neonatal Center. From the moment a request is received to transport an infant, a neonatologist will consult and assist in management of the infant. Our experienced high-risk transport team - STAT team - is composed of critical care nurses and paramedics who are specially trained to assess, stabilize and manage the care of critically ill newborns who require transport to the Regional Neonatal Center at WMC. In addition, a neonatologist will accompany the transport team in select cases.
Two teams are available 24 hours, seven days a week to service the seven counties in the Hudson Valley Region. One team is located at WMC and responds to calls received in the lower Hudson Valley. The second team is located in Orange County and manages calls in the northern portion of the region. Due to our central location and capability for both helicopter and ambulance transport at both sites, teams depart within 30 minutes after the request is received and can arrive at all hospitals in the region within one hour. We are the only service that can reach all of the 30 hospitals in the seven Hudson Valley Counties by helicopter or land within one hour.
It is a requirement of the Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship program that all presentations be made in PowerPoint via an LCD projector. This is in anticipation of transmitting this material via the Internet to simulcast our conferences with each of our network affiliates.
Hailey's Hope Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established in loving memory of Hailey, the daughter of Isaac and Donna Zion, born prematurely. Their mission is to help families with premature and seriously ill babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The foundation provides financial support and resources to NICU families in need, to help ease their burden during this critical time. Hailey's Hope Foundation is working with the Regional Neonatal Center at the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York.
