$5-million gift to increase neonatal care

Calgary donors back AHS goal of more ICU beds for newborns

Story by Erin Martinez

Alberta Children’s Hospital will soon be home to a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) thanks to a $5-million gift from Calgary philanthropists Heather and N. Murray Edwards.

“This is another wonderful example of how working in partnership helps create a stronger health care system,” says Ken Hughes, Chair of the Alberta Health Services (AHS) Board.

“The Edwards family had a keen interest in supporting NICU at the same time that AHS was strategizing about how best to improve services,” adds Hughes. “We worked together to come up with a solution that will help thousands of families in the years to come.”

Some of the most critically-ill newborn babies in southern Alberta will be cared for in The Edwards Family NICU, to be built over the next 18 to 24 months on the fourth floor of the Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH). The Level 3 NICU will have 11 to 14 beds.

Level 3 beds are for seriously ill newborns who may require serious interventions and immediate access to pediatric surgeons and specialists. Level 2 beds are for children who have some problems that make them unsuitable for Level 1 well-baby care, but who don’t face immediate life-threatening issues.

“It is such a privilege to be able to help families and their newborn babies in this way,” says Heather Edwards. “This is very personal for us, stemming from our own experience with our son who needed neonatal intensive care when he was born eight weeks early, five years ago. We truly hope our gift will greatly enhance NICU care and also create an environment that is better for staff and less stressful for families.”

The Edwards family made their donation through the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Calgary Health Trust.

As well as supporting construction of the new NICU, the Edwards’ donation will also fund specialized NICU equipment for Foothills Medical Centre and Rockyview General Hospital.

AHS is also making enhancements to neonatal intensive care services in Calgary for southern Alberta.
At the Peter Lougheed Centre, three more Level 2 NICU beds will be added to the special care nursery. Those beds are expected to open in July 2011. As well, eight temporary NICU Level 3 beds will begin operating at the Alberta Children’s Hospital until the new permanent unit is finished.

“These new beds will help address the increasing demand for neonatal intensive care beds in Calgary and southern Alberta,” says Dr. Eagle, President and CEO, AHS. “Having a NICU at the Children’s Hospital will also help reduce the need to travel between sites for newborns requiring surgeries and newborns with complex conditions.”

Currently, NICU services exist in Calgary at Peter Lougheed Centre (PLC), Rockyview General Hospital (RGH) and the Foothills Medical Centre (FMC).

Now, with the addition of these new NICU beds, a total of 115 NICU beds will be available in Calgary

The South Health Campus will also add maternal newborn capacity in Calgary by 2013.