The new owners of St. Joseph Regional Health System have announced an agreement with Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston that creates a level three NICU, or neonatal intensive care unit, in Bryan.
St. Joseph’s NICU can take care of critically ill infants born at 28 weeks and later and weigh at least 1000 grams, or two pounds and three ounces.
St. Joseph’s parent company, Catholic Health Initiatives, has a similar arrangement with a hospital it owns in Houston.
With the addition of St. Joseph’s, Texas Children’s has what it calls partnerships with 11 hospitals.
Speakers at Tuesday’s news conference included Dina Perez-Graham, vice president and chief nursing officer for St. Joseph Health System, Dr. Gwynn Geddie, the new medical director of St. Joseph’s NICU, St. Joseph’s director of maternity services and pediatrics Karen Boone, and Samantha Markey, the mother of twin girls born at 30 weeks at St. Joseph’s.
News release from St. Joseph Regional Health System:
Through a partnership with Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, St. Joseph Health System will have the Brazos Valley’s only level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) staffed by neonatologists who provide care at Texas Children’s, a nationally recognized facility.
The level III NICU and partnership with Texas Children’s is a direct outcome of the relationship formed when St. Joseph joined Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI).
A level III NICU offers a high level of care for critically ill infants born at 28 weeks and later. The St. Joseph level III NICU at the regional health center will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by neonatologists who provide care at Texas Children’s, making it the only NICU in the region offering this level of care. Texas Children’s operates the country’s largest level IV NICU, caring for more than 2,500 babies each year. To learn more about Texas Children’s Newborn Center, visit: http://texaschildrens.org/newborn/.
“Expectant mothers want the very best for their children. Through this partnership with nationally recognized Texas Children’s Hospital, mothers can now have added peace of mind and confidence in the level of care provided at St. Joseph Regional Health Center’s NICU,” said Dina Perez-Graham, vice president and chief nursing officer for St. Joseph Health System.
Dr. S. Gwynn A. Geddie has been named the medical director of St. Joseph Regional Health Center’s NICU. Dr. Geddie has 20 years of neonatal expertise. He was most recently the medical director for newborn services at CHI St. Luke’s Health The Vintage Hospital in Houston, and held positions at Baylor College of Medicine and Spohn Memorial in Corpus Christi.
“The partnership between St. Joseph Regional Health Center and Texas Children’s offers mothers-to-be and newborns a higher level of care, as well as a continuity of care from delivery to post-partum, with physicians who are known for their care for premature and critically ill infants,” says Perez-Graham.
“This advancement between our two organizations further elevates our commitment to women’s care in our community. We deliver over 1,500 babies a year at St. Joseph Regional Health Center and approximately 150 of those babies receive care in our level III NICU,” Perez-Graham continued.
Maternity services at St. Joseph Regional Health Center are offered in a state-of-the-art facility with an emphasis on providing a healing and comforting environment for families during the delivery of their child. The 38,800 sq. ft. unit was remodeled in 2010 increasing the number of labor and delivery and postpartum rooms, as well as adding a well-baby nursery in addition to the NICU.
The labor and delivery team at St. Joseph Regional is among the most experienced in the Brazos Valley, with many nurses on staff who have assisted in delivering multiple generations of families from the community. The team of NICU nurses collectively have more than 100 years of experience in caring for newborns, including triplets and quadruplets delivered at St. Joseph.
