Projects
Swedish NICU Expansion
There’s a reason nearly 8,000 babies are born at Swedish each year. Their moms and dads come for the excellent care and warm, comfortable surroundings. They also know that if their babies need any extra help in the days after their birth, Swedish has the technology and expert caregivers right down the hall at the most experienced Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the state.
That’s reassuring, of course. But, what’s worrisome is that during 2009, Swedish’s 30-bed NICU and the 31-bed ISCU treated more than 800 babies. That put it at 90 percent capacity for the year — about 15 percent higher than the ideal occupancy rate for a facility like this.
By operating so close to full, there are times when Swedish has to send expectant moms who are likely to deliver prematurely to another hospital that has room in its NICU. On other occasions, when Swedish is at capacity, newborns from other hospitals have had to be transported as far away as Tacoma or Spokane.
That’s a serious problem. And, while Swedish is committed to responding to this growing need in our community by adding capacity to our NICU, we could definitely use your help.
