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PLAINS TWP. — When Rochelle Shedlock became pregnant at age 45, she called it a “surprise blessing.” But it also meant a high-risk pregnancy. And Carly, now 3, was born prematurely.
“She didn’t weigh enough to go to the regular nursery (at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center). She had to go to the NICU,” Shedlock recalled Sunday.
The Shedlocks were one of dozens of families who attended a reunion at the East Mountain Holiday Inn for families whose children were NICU patients at the hospital to mark the fifth anniversary of the Tambur Family Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
“When we were told we had to go to the NICU, we didn’t know what to expect. But they were so wonderful, so comforting. There wasn’t a question you could ask that they couldn’t answer. They explained everything medically and the nurses were always there to help you and train you,” Shedlock said.
Before Shedlock and her husband, Mark, were allowed to take Carly home with them, they had to spend a night in a suite in the unit to make sure they were ready.
“We also had to do a car seat test to make sure she could hold her head up. It’s all just very impressive,” Shedlock recalled.
At the reunion, Shedlock said she met at least four nurses who remembered her and Carly from their stay three years ago.
“We were so thankful they were there for us in a time of need. We just wanted to go back and thank them again,” she said.
According to hospital spokesman Tom Gibbon, the event provided opportunity for about 100 people to gather to share stories of young lives saved through the services the unit provides.
“Physicians on the unit’s staff have all received fellowship training,” he said. “Nurses, also, have received advanced training.”
Many attendees of the event remembered those who treated their children at the time when they were most vulnerable, Gibbon said.
“It was a chance to reunite those doctors, nurses staff and families to share memories of a very significant time in their lives,” he said. “I think that even our “cuddlers,” volunteers that simply cuddle and rock young babies, were there.”
Especially moving, Gibbon said, was a family that returned to the area from Virginia for the event, because they said it was “that important.”
“Several years ago, a family from Virginia was visiting friends in Pittston when one of them went into labor,” he said. “They were so impressed with the care they received while here, with the concern showed to them by the staff, that they made the trip back just for the day.”
Since the unit opened, it has cared for about 1,000 young patients. Gibbons said the unit works in conjunction with other areas of the hospital where mothers might also receive care.
Patients, he said, appreciate that the hospital addresses care within the context of the family as a whole.
A carnival room at the event allowed children, many of whom were in costume, to have fun playing in a ball pit, competing in a ball toss and having their favorite creature crafted out of colorful balloons.
Dr. Kerry Ira Weiss and Dr. James Cook were on hand to share memories with attendees and emphasize the importance of neonatal care.
Families took time to look at a photo display of “then” and “now” photos of their children and the children from other families, emphasizing the growth and healing infants, once patients of the NICU, have experienced.
Gibbon said the reunion was the first of its kind, but the hospital hopes to continue with such reunions every two years.
“The unit cares for our youngest patients,” he said. “The event was a celebration of that excellent care.”
