Crouse Health to use funding to continue education, support services for parents of babies in facility’s NICU

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Crouse Health plans to continue providing education and support services for parents of infants in the facility’s neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU).

The Women’s Fund of Central New York awarded the Crouse Health Foundation $2,300 for the effort, according to a Crouse Health news release.

The organization will use the funding to cover the costs of educators and support personnel, along with the purchase of educational materials.

The money will support the programs provided to moms and dads of NICU babies to help them learn how to care for their infant and “how to cope with a highly stressful situation.”

Program topics include handling holidays with a baby in the NICU, struggles with ups and downs, staying positive and bonding with their premature infants, and addressing grief.

Crouse has also recently started a perinatal mood anxiety and depression-support group in the NICU, per its news release.

Since 1975, Crouse Health has served as the “region’s only New York State-designated regional perinatal center.” In 2017, more than 1,000 premature and “critically ill” infants were admitted to the NICU from 14 counties in Central and Northern New York.

Some infants are in the NICU for a few days but many are in the unit for 30 days or more, Crouse Health said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com