NHRMC's New PICU Opens to Region's Most Critically Ill Children 04/18/2011
Physicians, nurses and staff of New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) welcome their first patients. The new, state-of-the-art PICU will allow the region’s critically ill children to receive the specialized care they need close to home.
Several years of careful planning, multi-million dollar construction and the hopes and dreams of parents with critically ill children throughout the region were realized in full Dec. 1 with the opening of New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
Part of the larger Betty H. Cameron Women’s and Children’s Hospital, which opened in September, the new, state-of-the-art PICU will allow the region’s critically ill children to receive the specialized care they need close to home.
Currently, children requiring care in a PICU are transferred to hospitals several hours outside the Wilmington area. With the opening of NHRMC’s PICU, families facing the stress of having a critically ill child will no longer have the added burden of long, expensive commutes.
"With the opening of this unit, we will be able to offer a higher level of care to our region's sickest children,” said Joseph Pino, MD, Director of Pediatrics at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. “I can tell you that all of the physicians and staff here at the Betty H. Cameron Women's and Children's Hospital are excited to be part of the growth of Pediatric care, and they have worked long and hard to prepare for it."
NHRMC’s PICU has six private rooms and is staffed by doctors with advanced training in critical care. Life saving equipment and supplies will also be at hand to meet the size-specific needs of children. The unit is family focused and believes in the importance of parental involvement. The Pediatric floor offers a sleep sofa in each room, a family kitchen, living room and washer and dryer.
To learn more about the new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, or the Betty H. Cameron Women’s and Children’s Hospital, click here.
