The province says that the Special Care Nursery will be made larger and more comfortable. Pictured: MPP Donna Skelly. Photo Credit: Donna Skelly/X.
The Ontario government announced on Nov. 13 that it will be renovating the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
The NICU at St. Joseph’s is also called the Special Care Nursery and is located on the third floor of their Charlton Campus.
The Special Care Nursery provides care for babies who need extra support or monitoring, including those who are born premature or that have other health concerns.
The Special Care Nursery has Level 2B neonatal care and can help babies born as early as 32 weeks’ gestation.
Some babies stay in the NICU for a few hours while some may have to stay for weeks.
The St. Joseph’s NICU provides neonatal intensive care to infants across southwestern Ontario including Hamilton, Halton, Brant, Niagara, Haldimand, and beyond.
Even more intensive neonatal care is available at McMaster Hospital.
As for the upcoming renovations, the province says that the Special Care Nursery will be made larger and more comfortable.
Improvements include enhanced infection prevention and control measures, more private rooms to address privacy concerns and create lower stimulus environments for babies, and a designated room to store pumped or donated milk.
The province also says that “state-of-the-art design standards” will be incorporated to allow for more space and families will have better access to care such as respiratory treatments and lactation and nutrition supports.
Mike Heenan, the President of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, said that the announcement “is a transformational investment in the health and well-being of some of St. Joe’s most vulnerable patients that will be felt for generations.”
Ontario’s Ministry of Health will be working with St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton in the coming weeks to complete early planning and design for the project.
So far, projected costs and timelines have not been revealed since planning is still underway and the project contract has yet to be tendered.
The Ontario government says that they have also funded four new NICU bassinets at St. Joseph’s, building on the 17 bassinets that they already operate.
The province adds that the redevelopment will create space for additional capacity.
Local Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Donna Skelly said that the redevelopment “will ensure that newborns and their families across Hamilton have better access to specialized neonatal intensive care and family-centred birthing supports.”
Likewise, local MPP Neil Lumsden, who represents Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, called the move “great news” for the hospital and for “all the new mothers and newborns who will rely on the care and services of this NICU.”
The St. Joseph Special Care Nursery is one of 52 NICUs across the province in 44 different hospital systems.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
