Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Celebrated Expansion of its Wasie Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Center will be largest NICU in Broward County

Tuesday, June 02 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:


(Hollywood, Fla.) — The long awaited expansion of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is now a reality, thanks to philanthropic donations of more than $5 million, including a naming gift of $3 million from the Wasie Foundation. Hospital administrators, medical staff and former patients gathered recently to celebrate the opening of Phase I of the newly expanded Wasie Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Phase II will be completed in August 2009.

By the end of the summer, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital’s NICU will have a combined total of 64 beds – making it the largest NICU in Broward County. The hospital’s NICU is equipped to handle Level II and Level III cases.

Each private room has a fully integrated digital communication system to help quiet the room environment, and a sofa bed and personal storage cabinets with refrigerator to allow parents or relatives to stay comfortably overnight. In addition to patient rooms, the expansion includes educational rooms, breast pump rooms, family waiting areas, as well as sibling waiting areas.

Other donors who supported the expansion were the Diamond Angels, Dr. James and Susanne Acheson and Sheridan Children’s Healthcare.

Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital is part of the Memorial Healthcare System. It is a patient and family-centered care facility that meets the complex needs of children by providing a comprehensive scope of inpatient and outpatient pediatric services supervised by the largest diversity of board-certified specialists in the region. The hospital's mission is to provide high-quality healthcare services to our patients, regardless of their ability to pay, with the goal of improving the health status of the community we serve. As an advocate for children's healthcare and related causes, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital offers community education, child safety programs and the Conine Clubhouse, a home away from home for families of sick children.



Photo:
Celebrating the grand opening of the Wasie Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital are (left to right): Tamara Bledsoe, ARNPC, Director, Wasie Neonatal ICU; J.E. Piriz, Senior Vice President Memorial Healthcare System East Operations and CEO Memorial Regional Hospital; Nina Beauchesne, FACHE, Administrator, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital; Sara E. Wolfer, Secretary/Treasurer, South Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners; Senator Eleanor Sobel; Senator Nan Rich; Richard Auerbach, MD, Senior Vice President, Sheridan Children’s Healthcare Services; Kevin P. Tynan, Chairman, South Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners; Gregg D. Sjoquist, President and CEO, Wasie Foundation; Frank V. Sacco, FACHE, President and CEO, Memorial Healthcare System; Sharon Truske, President, Diamond Angels of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundation; Bruce Schulman, MD, Medical Director, Wasie Neonatal ICU; Lester McIntyre, MD, Chief Medical Director, Neonatal Services, Memorial Healthcare System; and Christine Alston, RNC, Nurse Manager, Wasie Neonatal ICU.

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