Forrest General Hospital Recognizes Neonatal Intensive Care Month

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – (September 4, 2024) Caring for the tiniest and most vulnerable patients born at Forrest General Hospital is the job of dedicated nurses and staff in our Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Babies placed in the NICU may be premature, underweight, and/or sick and requiring the highest level of care after birth. During September, Forrest General will observe Neonatal Intensive Care Awareness Month to honor families experiencing a stay in the NICU and the health professionals who care for them.

Tiffany Thompson of Bassfield is a mother who knows all about the NICU. She’s had not one, but two children, who spent lengthy amounts of time there. Her daughter, Desire, was born weighing just 1 lb. 8 ozs and spent three-and-one-half months in the NICU. Her son, George Mickel, was also premature, weighing 1 lb. 5oz. He spent six and a half months in the NICU.

Not working at the time of her daughter’s birth, Tiffany was able to spend more time with her daughter around the clock, but still depended on the NICU staff to watch over and care for her little one when she couldn’t be there. “It was so comforting to know they were there when I couldn’t be,” Tiffany said. “There were days when I was feeling down and they would come in and talk to me and comfort me,” she said. “They did a lot of things to make me feel better.”

When George Mikel was born he had a variety of problems and was transferred to Jackson for three days for some surgery and treatments before being brought back the Forrest General NICU. Tiffany had a kindergartner at home at the time, so she had to go back and forth. Again, she relied on the staff to watch over her son as he continued to improve and thrive. Several years later she began working in the hospital’s Environmental Services Department and more than six-and-one-half years ago transferred to NICU where she continues to work as a NICU support tech.

She’s now paying forward the care she received when her children were in the NICU. Along with her other work duties, Tiffany tries to comfort and ease the minds of those families who now have infants in the NICU. “I want them to receive the same care and strength I received from the NICU staff,” she said. “I want them to feel the love that the people in this department have for their infants.”

These days, Tiffany has a 15 and a 12-year-old at home. Both are healthy.

Neonatal Intensive Care Awareness Month is one of the nation’s youngest observances. Still a youngster itself, it wasn’t until 2014 that the non-profit, Project Sweet Peas, and other parent organizations, established this month in an effort to build a community committed to increasing awareness of the challenges faced in the NICU and to expand resources to NICU’s nationwide. Through coordinated efforts and personal experiences, these volunteers have become passionate about providing support to families of premature or sick infants and to those who have been affected by pregnancy and infant loss.

Forrest General’s NICU has about 300 admissions a year with about 10 percent of those coming from outlying regional hospitals through the hospital’s Neonatal Transport Team. This team has the great responsibility of traveling to outlying facilities in the hospital’s 19-county area to bring at-risk infants back to Forrest General. To meet the special needs of our tiniest patients, Forrest General has a specially-designed NICU transport ambulance.

Forrest General’s NICU consists of 19 rooms, divided between an intensive care unit, intermediate care nursery, and isolation room for critically ill infants. The NICU is supported by a team of neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, and highly-skilled nurses, respiratory therapists and NICU support techs trained in neonatal care.

The FGH NICU utilizes private patient rooms to offer "family-centered care," which means that parents can stay with their child at all times during their NICU stay. Each NICU bed is also equipped with a webcam so parents can stay connected with their newborns. The secure service is free to NICU families and can be accessed through a username and password. It also provides a way for loved ones who are too small or too far away to see your newest little addition.

Forrest General monitors NICU graduates for two years through the Neonatal Follow-up Clinic — another part of the hospital’s comprehensive care provided to premature infants. Forrest General is the only hospital in Mississippi to offer the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP).

On September 15, Forrest General will celebrate Neonatal Nurses Day, which honors their contributions to the most fragile patients and make a difference that lasts a lifetime for neonates and their families. Neonatal nursing is one of the most demanding sub-specialties of nursing care.

September 30 is NICU Awareness Day and you are encouraged to wear green to show your support.

For more information about Forrest General’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, visit forresthealth.org/nicu.