NEONATAL-PERINATAL MEDICINE The Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine is anchored by our Level IV children’s NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) in Hartford, CT. We’re proud to once again be ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The division directs one of the largest and most diverse clinical services in New England and is a major perinatal regional center for Connecticut. The primary mission of the division is to provide high quality, state-of-the-art care to neonates in both our state and our region, in addition to advancing education, training, and cutting edge research. The division faculty provides care at multiple sites across our region including within Connecticut at Children’s (Hartford), Connecticut Children’s at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC)/John Dempsey Hospital (JDH) in Farmington, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center (SFHMC) in Hartford, Eastern Connecticut Health Network (ECHN) in Manchester, the Hospital of Central Connecticut (THOCC) in New Britain, MidState Medical Center in Meriden, William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Windham Hospital in Willimantic, and Nuvance Health™, which includes both Danbury and Norwalk hospitals in Connecticut. This year we have begun providing services in Eastern New York, through our partnership with Nuvance Health™. Our faculty members not only work collaboratively across these sites but also are leaders in the Connecticut Perinatal Quality Collaborative, helping to improve maternal and newborn care at the state level. This year has been challenging for all of us. The impact of Covid-19 has been felt at every level of health care. In the Division of Neonatology across all of Connecticut Children’s affiliated sites, we have managed the challenges of taking care of neonates and families with Covid-19. We are actively participating in the national registry for surveillance and epidemiology of perinatal Covid-19 infections, and while our research labs were idled for a period of time during the spring, they have come back strong, and our research and publications
have been shared at meetings regionally and nationally. Among the year’s highlights, we were pleased to expand our growing partnerships with Nuvance Health™ and Hartford HealthCare. We have expanded neonatal services into the three New York Hospitals owned by Nuvance Health. These include Vassar Brother’s in Poughkeepsie, Northern Duchess in Rhinebeck, and Putnam Hospital in Carmel Hamlet, NY. We are increasing subspecialty support for these units and will be leveraging both in-person as well as virtual health to provide even greater access to Connecticut Children’s subspecialists to fragile newborns in these areas. Our care alliance with Hartford HealthCare has seen growth in the NICU at St. Vincent’s in Bridgeport and an increasing level of complexity at William H. Backus Hospital in Norwich. We are planning on growing our maternal and neonatal services at our flagship NICU in Hartford over the coming year. The research mission of the Division of NeonatalPerinatal Medicine focuses on several areas including the science of human milk and nutrition with multidisciplinary teams of professionals working within the Connecticut Children’s Human Milk Research Center. We also have a core faculty group interested in inflammation biology and NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis) and how toll-like receptors (TLR) and pregnane X receptor (PXR) are involved within the development of or protection from NEC. Our division’s continued partnership with UConn Storrs has focused on examining neuroprotection strategies after hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) from a translational perspective. Our Neonatal Neurodevelopment Follow-up Clinic (NNFP) is also involved in the New England Regional Follow-up Consortium and has been publishing outcomes data from our multiple NICUs. As an academic section, education through teaching and mentoring neonatology fellows, pediatric residents, medical students, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and pharmacy students is a primary objective. The faculty continues to lecture and organize National Neonatology board review courses, present work at regional, national and international meetings, and publish textbooks in the field.
NEONATAL CRITICAL CARE TRANSPORT TEAM The Neonatology division’s dedicated Transport Team is responsible for the transport of critically ill neonates from referring hospitals across New England to a newborn intensive care unit (NICU) within our network that is appropriate for the baby’s individualized medical needs. We believe in leveraging our regionalized clinical neonatal network to provide the right care, at the right place, at the right time, as close to home as possible. The team also transports newborns requiring procedures or evaluations to and from Connecticut Children’s Level IV NICU at the Hartford campus. In 2020, the Transport Team provided 680 transports (285 were neo; 395 were pedi). Neonatal-Perinatal medicine fellows (PGY4-6) are actively involved in the transport program. Fellows participate in transports during on-service rotations and during calls on nights and weekends. Our teams consist of a medical practitioner, neonatal fellow, neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) or PA, neonatal nurse and respiratory therapist allowing for transport of the highest acuity neonates. NEONATAL NEURODEVELOPMENTAL FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM Connecticut Children’s Neonatal Neurodevelopmental Follow-Up Program is a regional effort that provides services to all high-risk infants born and discharged from the NICUs across Connecticut. We are pleased to announce that in 2021 we will open a second Neonatal Follow-up Clinic at our subspecialty care center location in Danbury. These programs receive referrals from NICUs at Connecticut Children’s in Hartford and Farmington, St. Francis Hospital, the Hospital of Central Connecticut, and Eastern Connecticut Health Network, as well as Connecticut Children’s ECMO program, the medical center’s Cardiology, Neurosurgery, and Pediatric Surgery divisions, and community pediatricians. With our two locations, we are now able to support neonatal followup across our Connecticut network and into western Massachusetts and eastern New York.
PEDIATRICS
89
