Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

speech therapists in the NICU help babies go home

Dayton Children’s Regional Level III B NICU is the region's referral center for premature and sick newborns. The staff provides care for the region's most fragile babies. Our state-of-the art, developmentally centered unit offers a full range of newborn care through a prenatal team that includes board-certified neonatologists, and neonatal nurse practitioners with quick access to over 30 pediatric specialties if needed.

Newborns who reach our center have a very high survival rate and a low incidence of complications, even though we care for the region’s sickest babies. Patient families also rate our staff and the care at the highest levels of satisfaction (98.5%), ranking our unit in the top 5 percent in patient satisfaction in the country.

The neonatologists are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide telephone or onsite consultation and assessment of newborns hospitalized at any other facility. Babies requiring our level of care are transported to Dayton Children’s by the transport team, comprised of a neonatologist, specially trained nurses and a respiratory therapist. This team is available 24-7 to attend high-risk deliveries, stabilize, and if necessary transport premature and/or seriously ill infants. A special item called a Snoedel, which absorbs the mother’s scent, provide comfort to newborns transported to Dayton Children’s.

The entire perinatal team includes:

Neonatologists
Neonatal nurse practitioners
Nutritionist
Social worker
Speech therapist
OT/PT
Clinical pharmacist
Lactation consultant

Meet Our Team

Medical Director: M. David Yohannan, MD
Stephen Hunter, MD
Ken Schroeter, DO

Neonatal Nurse Practitioners:
Lisa Jasin, MSN, RNC, CNP
Sue Kern, MSN, RNC, CNP
Shana Thompson, MSN, RNC, CNP
Izumi Yamasita MS, RN, NNP

Director: Cindy Burger, MS, RN, CNAA, BC
Manager: Julie Bayless, RN, BS

Clinical staff:
Nancy Nevin-Folino, MEd, RD, CSP, LD, FADA
- neonatal nutrition specialist
Mari Jo Rosenbauer, RN, BSN, IBCLC
- lactation consultant

Carmine's Story

In April 2010, Carmine Yannitti was just 13. 2 ounces when he was brought to the NICU at Dayton Children's. He was given a 15 percent chance of survival. Three months later he was able to go home and he is still thriving today.

Family-Centered Care

The NICU functions with the philosophy of family-centered care. Our nationally recognized NICU was specifically designed and engineered to provide light and sound controls that are optimal for growth and healing in newborn babies. The NICU staff is trained to provide developmentally appropriate care. Parents and grandparents are permitted to visit any time. Siblings are permitted to visit if they are immunized and show no signs of illness. Parents may phone the unit at any time and are welcome to stay at their infant's bedside 24 hours a day. Room accommodations are also available just across the street at the Ronald McDonald House.

Cool-Cap System

Dayton Children’s is just one of 30 hospitals in the country to provide the Olympic cool Cap System used to prevent or reduce the severity of neurological injury in infants. The system provides selective head cooling for the treatment of decreased blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which affects two out of every 1,000 children and is a frequent cause of seizures, cognitive issues and cerebral palsy.

The system uses a cooled, sealed water cap placed over the infant’s head to maintain a precise state of hypothermia during a 72-hour treatment window and then slowly re-warms the child for an additional four hours. Since only the head is cooled, the rest of the baby’s body experiences a temperature only slightly below normal, reducing the likelihood of serious side effects from hypothermia.

Going Home

Before leaving the NICU, parents receive one-on-one discharge teaching to help ease the transition. Additionally, the NICU offers parents the opportunity to share a room with their baby and provide care on their own while still having the expertise of the NICU staff steps away.

Conditions We Treat

Prematurity
Sick, full-term newborns
RDS
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
Transient tachypnea
Aspiration pneumonia
Hyperbilirubinemia
Infectious diseases - sepsis, meningitis, etc.
Perinatal asphyxia
Pulmonary hypertension
Complex birth defects
Congenital heart disease
Newborns requiring cardiac assessment
Newborns requiring general surgery
Newborns requiring neurological surgery
Newborns requiring urological surgery
Renal diseases
GI disturbances
Metabolic diseases
Seizures/transitional disorders
Conditions requiring nitric oxide

Services We Offer

24-hour consultation to area physicians
24-hour emergency ground transportation
Cool-Cap selective head cooling Attendance at high-risk or potentially complicated deliveries
Nutritional support (IV therapy)
Prenatal consultation and counseling for parents
Genetic counseling
Pediatric specialty access
Neonatal cardiovascular assessment
Lactation consultation
Neonatal nutritionist
Clinical pharmacist
Neonatal social work services
Chaplain
Newborn follow-up clinic

Our neonatologists have privileges at:

Community Hospital (Springfield)
Good Samaritan Hospital (Dayton)
Greene Memorial Hospital (Xenia)
Kettering Memorial Hospital (Kettering)
Middletown Regional Hospital (Middletown)
Southview Hospital (South - Dayton Mall area)
Upper Valley Medical Center (North - Miami County)

Locations

Dayton Children's - Main Campus

Related Services

NICU/PICU Transport Service

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