JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Erika Lamas and her three babies were the first patients to be transferred from the previous Wolfson Children’s neonatal intensive care unit to the new Borowy Family Children’s critical care tower back in February.
“The nurses are all great, the doctor’s area, all great — especially with the whole situation what happen(ed) with Aria and her needing surgery and everything. They’ve just all taken good care of her,” Erika Lamas said.
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“We have a new newborn intensive care center, and it’s actually on three different levels, so it’s 75 beds of neonatal services on those floors,” said Michael Aubin, Wolfson Children’s Hospital president.
Aubin took Action News Jax on a special tour of the new critical care tower.
“The sixth floor is our new pediatric intensive care unit, which has the first neuro ICU in the state,” Aubin said.
Aubin showed us some of the new highlights, like the Philips Predictive Analytics System. It’s the first of its kind and can help a doctor predict a stroke or respiratory failure in a patient before it happens.
There’s also the neonatal MRI, designed for the smallest and most vulnerable newborns. It can keep a baby warm with thermal support technology.
The new critical care tower is full of new technology. When you walk through any of these rooms, you can see patients are able to order a meal or watch a movie.
There’s also a digital board where you can see who your doctors and nurses are. There is also a full schedule for the patient that day and a little information about the patient.
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Lamas said thanks to the new critical care tower, her babies are now thriving.
“Ellie and Camilla, They’re actually like little wiggle worms. They like to move around a lot in their cribs. Aria is doing really well even though she’s still here. She’s more aware, she’s getting better at drinking her bottle, so hopefully she gets to come home soon too,” Lamas said.
Next Tuesday, Wolfson will open its new pediatric intensive care unit, and next month it will open the seventh floor of the tower, which includes a burn unit and cardiac intensive care unit.