HMH will operate as a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (May 27, 2015) — The Hardin Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees approved plans for a major investment in the hospital’s BirthPlace Unit, allowing HMH to operate as a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to provide quality care to the region’s most fragile babies.
Plans includes having two teaching neonatologists from the University of Louisville Physicians Neonatology Group staff a six-bed unit beginning in September. The neonatologists will provide 24-hour coverage for the NICU.
Any babies requiring the care of neonatologists must currently be transported to a higher-level NICU. HMH has to notify Kosair, wait for transport, ready the baby for transfer and then they make the nearly hour-long journey to Louisville. The round-the-clock presence of the neonatologists starting in September means that HMH can practice at the highest scope for a Level II NICU — the only one of this level in the 10-county region that HMH serves.
“Minutes matter when it comes to providing care for vulnerable babies. This investment will allow us to keep babies, moms and families together here at their home hospital, which encourages and expedites the healing, bonding and the development process,” said Sharon Wright, HMH Chief Nursing Officer.
HMH delivered 1655 babies in 2014 and is seeing an increasing number of births of multiples, which come with an increased potential for complications. HMH ranks 9th out of the 48 delivering hospitals in Kentucky.
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