AtlantiCare NICU Honored By Galloway Council, Mayor

GALLOWAY, NJ — At a recent Galloway Township Council Meeting, AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit team was honored with a proclamation as the unit celebrated 50 years of caring for infants and families.

As part of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Awareness Month and Neonatal Nurses Week, Galloway Township Mayor Anthony Coppola shared a proclamation with Township Council.

"We're so fortunate to have a hospital with the qualifications that AtlantiCare has," said Coppola.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia neonatologists who are based at AtlantiCare’s NICU, and AtlantiCare neonatal nurses spoke with the Mayor and Council about the specialized care they provide babies born too early and/or with medical needs, and their families.

They showed the tiny diapers they use to illustrate how small NICU patients can be. Nurses make keepsake bracelets for each of the babies, with beads marking milestones they achieve.

Beth Hendricks, BSN, RN, clinical manager of the NICU, explained that the last bead nurses put on the memento is a boat – marking the little ones’ journey home.

The NICU opened in 1972 in what was then Atlantic City Hospital. It moved to ARMC Mainland Campus in Pomona when AtlantiCare opened its new Center for Childbirth.

The NICU team, which includes neonatologists from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (As part of CHOP Newborn and Pediatric Care at AtlantiCare partnership), neonatal nurses, respiratory therapists, technicians and other care experts. The team does not only care for premature babies, but for those with special needs as well. The team and those before them, have cared for tens of thousands of babies from the southeastern New Jersey region and beyond.

The NICU team collaborates with AtlantiCare’s OB/GYN, Maternal Fetal Medicine and other AtlantiCare programs and teams to ensure mothers, babies and families have a healthy start to life.