Special Care Neonatal Nursery

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Special Care Neonatal Nursery

Affiliated with the Regional Center for Maternal and Pediatric Care in partnership with Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center, the Level IIB Special Care Nursery at Lowell General Hospital provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for infants born prematurely, infants with feeding difficulties, and those with other medical issues requiring close monitoring and assessment.

Dr. Cordova in Special Care Nursery Mario Cordova, MD in the Special Care Nursery

The 10-bed Special Care Nursery, which provides 24-hour care, is staffed with board-certified neonatologists (physicians specializing in the care of premature and sick infants), pediatric physicians, and neonatal nurses. These clinicians are highly skilled at resuscitating and stabilizing critically ill infants, and preparing them for transfer to a Level III neonatal intensive care nursery if necessary. Once stabilized, such infants are transferred back to the Special Care Nursery for ongoing care closer to home.

Babies (and their parents) First In Everything We Do

All babies in the Special Care Nursery are connected to monitors. Some also require intravenous therapy, oxygen, and other medical equipment. Although such a "high tech" environment may seem overwhelming to parents, our goal is to involve parents as much as possible in the care of their infants, and to help promote bonding. With a strong focus on family-centered care, our dedicated team of physicians, nurses, lactation consultants, social workers, dietitians, and physical therapists work collaboratively with parents to educate and support them. We also recognize and respect your need to spend private time with your infant. Our state-of-the-art monitoring system allows parents to spend alone time with their infants in private parenting rooms, while providing continuous monitoring of their infant to the staff in the nursery.

Visitation

We encourage parents to spend as much time with their infant as possible while they are in the Special Care Nursery. As we focus on family-centered care, we encourage parents to visit as frequently as possible without restriction. Family members and friends may visit if accompanied by a baby's parent, during normal visiting hours which are 1:00-8:00pm. Arrangements can be made to have other family members visit without the parent present.

Visitors are not allowed if they have a cold, flu, or fever, or if they were recently exposed to a contagious disease.

Additional Support

Lactation Services

Certified lactation consultants are available 7 days a week. They provide lactation support to all nursing mothers whose infant were born prematurely, as well as for mothers of full term infants who request support. Electric breast pumps are also available for mothers to use when visiting their infants, and there is a breast milk storage refrigerator within the Special Care Nursery if needed. The lactation consultants also provide out-patient follow up and support in the hospital setting after the infants are discharged home.

Social Services

A dedicated team of social workers consult with families of infants in the Special Care Nursery. They provide families with community resource referrals, assist with discharge planning, help arrange visiting nurse services, and provide emotional support.