Neonatal (newborn) Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Hello.

I’m Baby Elizabeth and I want to introduce you to some of the nicest people I’ve met in my life---and I’ve been around six whole months! These are some of my favorite nurses in the Saint Elizabeth NICU (newborn intensive care unit). My mommy says I was small because I was born early and I was in the NICU for three weeks. Look how big & healthy I am now! If your baby is in the Saint Elizabeth NICU—you could get to meet these great nurses too.

Nicu Nurse Lorri examines Baby Jaxon McQuigg; she is one of 6 advanced-trained nurses in the Saint Elizabeth NICU—the only NICU in the area with these nurses avaialble 24/7.

Nurse Lorri

The standard of care in the Saint Elizabeth NICU is so incredibly high. I had my baby here and for 6 weeks I got to see first-hand the quantity and quality of work the nurses do in the NICU. It was so fantastic; I wanted to work here, too! ---Lorri Niemeyer, NNP

Mom Lorri is now NICU Nurse Lorri—in fact she is now NNP Lorri and a 14-year veteran at Saint Elizabeth! She has taken her nursing skills to a higher level to be one the six Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (NNPs) in the Saint Elizabeth NICU. These nationally-certified, advanced practice nurses help diagnose illness, prescribe interventions, order lab and diagnostic testing, perform procedures and prescribe medications; as well provide education, counseling, and supportive care to the tiniest of patients and their families. And only at Saint Elizabeth do they provide their trusted and experienced level of care around-the-clock.

Nurse Sara Bohling holds Baby Both Jock as she helps out in the Saint Elizabeth NICU Follow-Up Clinic where NICU “graduate” infants attend (at no cost to parents) for three years helping assure they are developing as well as possible.

Nurse Sara

It’s amazing that I am working in the very place where I spent the first two-and-a-half months of my life---the Saint Elizabeth NICU! As a frail two-pound infant I relied on the NICU nurses’ skills and expertise to help me thrive and develop. Today, I rely on their skills and expertise to help me learn to care for other babies as well as they cared for me! ---Sara Bohling, RN, Saint Elizabeth NICU

Nurse Sara says since working in the Saint Elizabeth NICU she fully appreciates how her parents felt when they first looked at their fragile two-pound infant girl. One of Sara’s joys is helping other parents develop their skills in caring for the tiniest of newborns. As a note, the Saint Elizabeth NICU team does incredible work with babies as tiny as Sarah was. For each of the past four years the Saint Elizabeth NICU had from 56-77 newborns who weighed less than 1500 grams (three-and-a-half pounds). And yet, when compared with more than 800 other NICUs their medical outcomes for the top five high-risk NICU indicators* place them significantly higher than the average of all! They were even in the 95th percentile for three of the indicators! *Vermont Oxford Network data (2008)

Nurse Lindsey holds her two sons, Gavin (left) and Graysen, each of whom spent time in the Saint Elizabeth NICU and are healthy and developing very well!

Nurse Lindsey

I was a nurse at a large Omaha specialty hospital. But when my first child was born he wasn’t breathing. He spent four weeks in the Saint Elizabeth NICU. I know how to recognize nursing expertise and skills. The Saint Elizabeth NICU team was exceptional! In fact, a few weeks later, I quit my Omaha NICU nursing job and came to work in the Saint Elizabeth NICU. It’s the best move I could ever make. ---Lindsey Vlcan, NICU nurse

Nurse Lindsey had a scare no mom wants. But her son Gavin, now two-and—half years old, is developing very well. From that harrowing ordeal, Lindsey, a NICU nurse herself, changed hospitals because she fully appreciates the Saint Elizabeth NICU nurses’ (1) incredible expertise, (2) compassion, and (3)the private NICU rooms---instead of just curtained bays. Nurse Lindsey is also trained as a transport nurse, and gets to fly in helicopters when transferring moms-to-be or newborns to Saint Elizabeth.

Nurse Elizabeth Lucas says she learns something new every day from nurses like her mentor, Sheila Ecklund, a 38-year NICU veteran.

Nurse Elizabeth

In a high school class I had to pick a career to focus on for a project. My heart really was not in it, but my mom was a nurse so I picked nursing. I had to shadow a nurse for the project so I called Saint Elizabeth and was connected with Sheila Ecklund, a NICU nurse. By the end of our time together I wanted to be just like her! I was so impressed with her expertise and caring. I was determined to become a NICU. Now, I am amazed that I am working right alongside Sheila---my role model and mentor. It’s also very reassuring. ---Elizabeth Lucas, NICU nurse

Nurse Elizabeth says that even after eight years she is still amazed at the level of expertise of her mentor, Nurse Sheila, and the other veteran nurses in the Saint Elizabeth NICU. While across the country and in other Nebraska hospitals as well, turnover is high for NICU nurses---it’s intense work with the tiniest most fragile lives in the balance. But in the Saint Elizabeth NICU, nurses tend to stay around---they love their work. In fact the years of experience of the NICU nurses here collectively totals more than 800 years!