The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) based at St Mary’s Maternity Hospital, which is a few minutes’ walk from the main Poole Hospital building, has been able to make improvements to two family rooms thanks to a donation from a local company.
“The rooms had very small windows that were also a bit draughty so it was not the most comfortable accommodation,” says Daniel Lockyer, Neonatal Matron. “We have now been able to have much larger windows fitted which make the rooms much more light and airy and far more pleasant and warm for the families who need to use them.”
The unit cares for babies requiring special care, whether it is due to pre-maturity, illness at delivery or health problems during the baby’s stay at hospital. It has twenty cots – four of those are intensive care cots, six are high dependency cots and ten are special care cots.
There are a number of reasons why the family rooms are needed as Daniel explains.
“We do have babies arrive with us from other units and parents need somewhere to stay, some babies are very poorly when they are born and the parents want to be around for a while and we also have mums and dads who stay in the rooms so help is at hand if required, before they finally take baby home, and it is a good confidence builder.”
J.P. Morgan made the donation and Sarah Maher a member of the J.P. Morgan Community Relations Committee is familiar with the work of the unit.
“I had reason to be very grateful to the unit a number of years ago and know how important the family rooms are and I am delighted we were able to help in this way.”
(J.P. Morgan employs 4,000 technology and operations staff at its Bournemouth Corporate Centre and has a strong history of community engagement).