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National day recognized NICU nurses
Standing watch over Medical Center Hospital’s tiniest patients, the nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are guardian angels in pastel scrubs.
“We call them our special angels,” Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals director Rachel Dobbs said.
Those angels were recognized on national NICU Nurses Day Thursday.
Food was catered from Jason’s Deli so that each of the 27 NICU nurses and the auxiliary staff could have a free meal Thursday or Friday, depending on their shift, Dobbs said.
The national day was established about three years ago and this is the second NICU Nurses Day MCH has celebrated, Dobbs said.
The nurses were pleased by the recognition, but for many of them the work is a calling.
“I’ve always known what I wanted to do,” NICU nurse Jaime Nix said.
After a friend gave birth, losing one twin in utero, Nix said she saw how the nurses cared for the remaining baby in the NICU.
For Nix, the work is personal and she refers to the parents she works with as “my parents”, and knows each of “her” babies well.
“I’ll cry when they go home,” Nix said.
After hearing about NICU Nurses Day, parent Jamaica de la Cruz said she thought it was good for the nurses to be recognized.
De la Cruz’s daughter is a patient in the MCH NICU.
“They keep me updated on everything,” de la Cruz said. “Whenever I got here they said the days will go fast.”
Seeing the babies go home happy and healthy is also one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
After working with her first really tiny baby, a 1 pound, 6 ounce little boy, NICU nurse Danielle Milton said that seeing him become healthy enough to leave with his parents was satisfying.
“It was really, really good to see him go home,” Milton said.
A NICU nurse’s duties include monitoring a baby’s vital signs, starting IVs, giving medicine, changing diapers and feeding the babies.
Nurses also work on keeping parents informed during what can be a very stressful time, Nix said.
At the end of the day, both Milton and Nix saw themselves as nurses just doing what they love to do.
“I’ve been told a lot that I’m an angel, but I don’t see it,” Nix said. “I’m just me. I think (the babies) are the angels.”
@OAhealth
