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Read the press release here.

Bellevue Opens $5.2M Neonatal ICU

By Mary Johnson | July 28, 2011 2:19pm
Bellevue Hospital recently opened a new $5.2 million neonatal intensive care unit.
Bellevue Hospital recently opened a new $5.2 million neonatal intensive care unit.
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Flickr/Rich Pompetti

KIPS BAY — Bellevue Hospital Center has opened a new $5.2 million, 14,000-square-foot neonatal intensive care unit.

The NICU, which treats premature and critically ill infants, opened last month and is expected to care for 500 infants annually, according to a press release.

The facility is three times the size of the hospital’s old neonatal intensive care unit and was designed using input from NICU staff members and the families of former patients.

Some of the features that came out of the collaborative effort include high-tech incubators that control light levels and temperatures.

An integrated sound system monitors noise levels from inside incubators and is the first of its kind in New York state, the press release said.

"This new space is designed to improve the quality of care and health outcomes of the littlest New Yorkers by dramatically reducing stressful external stimulation and nurturing them as if they never left their mother’s womb prematurely," HHC President Alan D. Aviles said in a statement.

"We know that premature babies who receive this kind of developmental care that eliminates external stimuli can feed on their own quicker, go home sooner and ultimately have better short and long-term outcomes than babies who don't."

Another new feature of the 20-bed unit is an area known as the “Launch Pad,” a private space where parents can spend time caring for their pre-term babies before bringing them home.

 “The Launch Pad helps parents become familiar with their infants’ habits, behavior, sleep patterns and routines,” explained Dr. Karen Hendricks–Muñoz, Bellevue’s chief of neonatology.

“It supports a learning environment where families can actually practice the care and procedures that their infant will require at home.” 

The facility is named in honor of philanthropist and health advocate Barbara P. Gimbel and is supported by funding from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and the Franklin Fund.