Albert Cesare|Odessa American

R.N. Natalie Austin works on completing the transfer of premature twin, Andrew Kjelland, as his parents Khim and Chris Kjelland look on Friday inside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Medical Center Hospital. Andrew was one of seven infants transferred into the new NICU on Friday.

Babies move to the new NICU

January 27, 2012 6:50 PM

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BY GABRIELLA LOPEZ

Surrounded by nurses and an Ector County Hospital District police officer, Medical Center Hospital’s seven smallest patients made the move Friday to the new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Center for Women and Infants.

“Some of the nurses were saying ‘this is her first police escort,’ ” mother Andrea Torrez said about her daughter, jokingly adding that she hoped it would be Liley’s last.

Little Liley Torrez, who is about a month old, was one of the first babies in the NICU to make the move from the old NICU to her new single room at the Center for Women and Infants.

“It’ll be a quieter space,” Andrea Torrez said.

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Unlike the previous NICU, which housed all of the babies in one large room, the new facility provides 30 private rooms in the NICU.

Minimizing the noise the babies are exposed to is beneficial to their development, NICU Medical Director Raul Chavez Valdez said.

“You have a lot of noise in an ICU,” Chavez Valdez said.

In any intensive care unit there is always a chance of infection, particularly during medical emergencies, but the individual rooms limit the likelihood of infection, Chavez Valdez said.

And since new moms can now spend the night in the NICU it allows them more time to bond with their baby.

“They like the privacy,” Chavez Valdez said.

Even twins Allison and Andrew Kjelland, who were born Wednesday at 31 week (about a month early) have some privacy.

“Each one gets their own room,” the twins’ father Chris Kjelland said.

Chris Kjelland, his wife Khim and the babies’ grandmothers watched as they were wheeled into elevators and down halls to their new rooms.

“They had a whole entourage,” Khim Kjelland said.

The privacy the new rooms provided appealed to Khim Kjelland.

Additional infant security is also offered in the new NICU, including a video screen that allows nurses to verify a person’s identity before they are buzzed in after hours.

While they didn’t expect any problems, Security Director Brad Timmons said he and the other officers wanted to provide additional security as the babies moved between the two facilities.

“We just want to make it a smooth transition,” Timmons said.