When Becky Hatfield’s daughter was born three months premature in 1974, she weighed 2 lbs. Hatfield was sure her baby was dead when she was admitted to the University Hospital’s intensive care unit for premature babies.
“When the nurse showed me Allison for the first time, I woke up with smelling salts under my nose,” she said. “It was such a shock seeing how tiny my baby was that I had apparently fainted.”
At the time, there were no support groups to which Hatfield could turn. So, she helped start a support group called Parent-to-Parent at the U Hospital to help parents of premature or sickly babies cope. She later became the program’s coordinator in 1989.
Now, the U Hospital has been picked as a site for March of Dimes Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Program (NICU), a nationwide effort to help parents of babies in intensive care learn how to care for a fragile child who might be in the hospital for weeks. The hospital launched the new program Nov. 27.
The program will work with the U Hospital’s Parent-to-Parent program by adding more parent support faculty to handle the increase in premature or sickly babies born each year.
“The number of babies born prematurely is raising every year,” said Rachel Hixson, NICU family support specialist. “Thirty years ago there were about 30 babies in the intensive care units and now there are over 40.”
The project is connected to the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign, which raises money to help premature births nationwide. The March of Dimes is a charity organization that works to improve the health of children.
The new support program adds to the Parent-to-Parent program by bringing in bilingual specialists to help Hispanic families with children in intensive care and providing specialized bereavement programs for families who have lost their newborns. Hospitals across the nation have been selected to join the program. The U Hospital was recently chosen as the only hospital in Utah to have a NICU support program.
Premature newborns from Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are often treated at the U Hospital, Hatfield said. Denver and northern Montana are the only areas in the intermountain West, besides Utah, that have facilities to accommodate premature newborns, she said.
She said parents coming in for the first time with a premature baby or one who has experienced complications are nervous and unsure how to handle the situation.
“They have the look of a deer facing headlights, absolutely terrified,” Hatfield said. “Most of them are young adults who have never had a hospital experience before with a sick person, much less their own child.”
The program will give parents more opportunities to interact with other parents and show them how to bathe and care for their babies, said Chantelle Turner, a spokeswoman for the U.
“Some of the programs we offer are bereavement sessions when a baby has died and support services for the families of the premature baby, including brothers and sisters of the child,” said Stephen McDonald, director of program services for the March of Dimes Utah Chapter.
Hatfield’s daughter lives and now works as an intensive care nurse in Salt Lake City. Parents definitely need support — it’s such a shock to go through, Hatfield said.