New parents in Cobb County just got a serious boost in backup. Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center has started caring for its tiniest patients in a newly opened neonatal intensive care unit inside the hospital’s Yellow Tower, shifting dozens of newborns into the space after months of planning. The reimagined NICU focuses on private rooms, expanded family areas and upgraded monitoring so parents can stay close to babies who need specialized care. Hospital leaders say the setup should keep more newborns in Marietta instead of sending them to hospitals farther from home.
Staff moved 44 newborns into the new NICU in a carefully choreographed transfer, according to CBS News Atlanta. Video from the station highlights private rooms and bedside family spaces that hospital leaders say are designed to ease stress and support bonding throughout what can be some of the longest and hardest days a family faces.
What’s Inside the New NICU
Wellstar describes the unit as a 49-bed next-generation NICU that includes a centralized milk lab to handle fortified human milk and donor milk, six couplet care rooms where mothers and babies can remain together when it is medically safe, and advanced monitoring systems to support high-acuity neonatal care, according to Wellstar. Leaders say the design leans heavily on natural light, private space and family-centered details in an effort to make lengthy NICU stays less isolating for parents.
Part of a Bigger Build…