LONG BRANCH — Monmouth Medical Center’s Regional Newborn Center will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in September with a charity walk benefiting the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
The second annual Big Steps for Little Feet will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 21 on the city’s oceanfront. A birthday celebration will be held at the hospital following the walk and all funds raised from the event will benefit the NICU.
There have been many success stories that have come out of the Long Branchbased NICU, including that of Aidan Patrick Smith, who was born prematurely on Sept. 7, 2006, weighing 2 pounds 3 ounces.
His mother, Sharon Smith, said that she remembers the day as if it were yesterday.
“To say that we were scared to death would be an understatement,” Smith said.
She also recalls how the staff of Monmouth Medical Center’s NICU provided her family with positive support, assistance and medical treatment.
“The nurses not only cared for Aidan’s medical needs every day, but stood on the sidelines cheering him on during his first attempt at a bottle,” Smith said. “They took care of our needs, as well as providing us a shoulder to cry on during the ups and downs, which were many.”
Staff members of the NICU and MonmouthMedical Center administrators are hoping that the annual walk will reunite some of those who have become part of the NICU family over the course of its many years of growth and success.
More than 500 walkers participated in last year’s first Big Steps walk, which raised more than $62,000 to support the NICU.
This year, all proceeds again benefit the NICU and support an expansion and renovation project planned for the near future.
Monmouth Medical Center, an affiliate of St. Barnabas Health Care Systems, garnered the prestigious honor some 35 years ago of being the first to establish a level III NICU in New Jersey, which is the highest designation in the state.
In order to qualify as level III, a NICU must meet certain stipulations, one of which mandates that the hospital retain neonatologists as permanent staff members to be on site at all times, not just on an on-call basis.
The staff of specialists must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so that they are able to respond in seconds to any complications that might require their specific attention.
Smith said that the Monmouth Medical NICU doctors are not only there for medical purposes, but they also contribute to the “amazing” support system formed in the NICU.
“They would answer any question, whether it had been asked once or 100 times and were available to us 24 hours a day,” Smith said. “Each and every one of them is a gift from above.”
Today, Smith said that Aidan is strong and playful and will be turning 2 years old this month. Since his discharge from the NICU, Aidan has been enrolled in the hospital’s Regional Newborn Extension Program.
The program includes speech therapists, occupational therapists, developmental psychologists, as well as nurse practitioners and the very same neonatologists who personally dealt with these children in the NICU.
Smith said that the one major aspect of the program that has proved invaluable to her family is the fact that the same neonatologists who were in the NICU answering their questions and caring for their son are a part of his ongoing care.
“It’s great that it’s the same doctors from the NICU, so they have literally known him his whole life,” Smith said.
The 23-bassinet Monmouth Medical Center NICU was the first infant intensive care unit established in New Jersey. It has one of the highest infant survival rates in the state and treats more than 500 patients every year, according to a press release from Monmouth Medical Center.
The Regional Newborn Extension Program supplies follow-up care to newborns that have been released from the NICU, so that doctors can monitor the progress of infants as they achieve certain milestones. It also provides parents with extended support through counseling and specialized programs to aid in their child’s development.
For more information on the walk, call 732-923-6886.