The neonatology clinic’s move to a brand new building!
It is often said that Sainte-Justine’s neonatology department, the largest in Canada, is a hospital within a hospital. It continuously welcomes babies from all across the province. The department’s move to the new special care unit building, which took place on December 8, 2016, marked the final step in the journey to our new home.
On the big day, Sophie Gravel, Coordinator of Inpatient Neonatology , led the way: 47 babies, most in incubators and on oxygen, were moved across a distance that took 15 minutes to travel on foot. Months of careful organization, as well as simulations and exercises carried out beforehand, finally came to fruition: within five hours, everyone was comfortably settled in their new home!
Between the front doors and the operating room, all admitted children are wrapped in the embrace of the Sainte-Justine family. And between the mother’s belly and the outside world, for a baby in difficult circumstances, there is the new neonatology unit. Every care has been taken, in collaboration with staff, to recreate as closely as possible the conditions in utero and a warm environment where family life can begin: private, soundproofed rooms provide a calm sanctuary, sofa beds for parents, and rooms specially adapted for twins, triplets and quadruplets.
Neonatal hospital stays can be long and tiring, and parents’ support networks are often based outside of Montreal. This was the impetus behind creating a place where human relationships can develop without affecting the care that is provided. Everything has been designed so that this centre of modern technology remains warm and friendly.
The new neonatology unit is an innovative place where science and research exist alongside care and compassion, where every effort is made to create a serene atmosphere, where parents are an extension of the care team and the care team itself becomes part of the family. At Sainte-Justine, days and nights that feel long and trying can nonetheless be faced in a healthy manner.
« In neonatology, the progress made in the past few years has been tremendous. Seven out of ten babies born at 25 weeks will survive. Now, as researchers, we are doing everything we can to ensure that as they grow up, these children, later teenagers, will receive the appropriate follow-up care to allow them to live an adult life in the best health possible. »
Dr. Anne Monique Nuyt, neonatologist and researcher
