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CHI Health Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney recently upgraded its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU, expanding its capabilities to care for premature infants. With no other advanced NICUs outside of Lincoln and Omaha, the expansion provides vital medical care previously unavailable west of the major cities.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has levels designating what kind of care NICUs can provide. Good Samaritan’s NICU will be upgraded to Advanced Level II, allowing the Kearney hospital to care for infants as young as 30 weeks gestation.
Director of Maternity Care Anne Krause said the NICU’s services are essential for families in western Nebraska.
“They don't know what they need until they need it, and we're there to support them when they do need it,” Krause said.
The NICU can perform minor surgeries, give respiratory support and monitor infant health complications.
Before the upgrade in Kearney, Krause said the closest NICU for advanced care was in Lincoln, adding travel and separating families.
“If you deliver early, your baby's more than likely going to be in the NICU until they're close to term, or 38-40 weeks,” Krause said. “So, if they're born at 30 weeks, that's eight weeks in the NICU. If they had to be transferred to Lincoln, you're away from home that long.”
According to a 2023 report on maternity care from the March of Dimes, about 52% of Nebraska’s counties are maternity care deserts -- places without birthing facilities or maternity care providers.
The report found that 23% of babies are born to parents in rural counties, but only around 8% of maternal care providers practice in them. Rural Nebraskans will travel an average of 30.7 miles to give birth.
Lack of care leaves parents -- and their infants -- vulnerable to adverse health outcomes. One way to mitigate such problems is through telehealth services, which will be used in the NICU expansion.
Krause said Advanced Level II NICUs require neonatologists, who specialize in care for premature infants and newborns with serious health issues. They will be on call through telehealth.
“We coordinated with our pediatricians at Saint Elizabeth, and we're going to do that via telehealth,” Krause said. “They're going to coordinate with our 24/7 NNPs, or neonatal nurse practitioners.”
CHI Health Saint Elizabeth in Lincoln has a Level III NICU. While some infants will still need to be transferred for more advanced medical care, Krause said Good Samaritan can fill in the gaps.
“We could transfer them back to our facility so they could be closer to home,” Krause said. “Because that's hard -- because they're in the NICU for quite a long time -- to be away from home. If you have other kids or children, it's hard to be away.”
There are around 20 spots for infants. With a fully staffed unit, plus the three new neonatologists, Krause says they are all ready for the change.
“They want to be utilized, and they love to work,” Krause said. “They love the NICU. They love their specialty, and they love what they do.”
Since September, the staff has been training on new equipment, such as a $69,000 retina scanner required for the upgrade. The scanner looks for abnormalities that can cause vision loss in premature infants born at or before 31 weeks.
Krause said the hospital is doing what it can with its current resources.
“The next level would be level three,” Krause said. “I would think we would probably need in-house neonatology, which is a specialty. It's a hard specialty to get, so we're working with what we have to make it happen for this region.”