In Jeneece Place at the Victoria General Hospital, dozens of parents and children showed up to the 37th annual NICU Reunion on Aug. 8, celebrating the doctors, nurses, and babies that have been through the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
"It's amazing to see all the little faces come back each year. They grow each year and I think it's very rewarding to staff to see that the type of care they're providing to these infants in those very early days has an impact, and the families are so grateful for the care and the staff," said Susan Butler, manager of the NICU at VGH.
The current NICU has 22 beds and provides the "second highest" care in the province for babies born as early as 22 weeks. Babies can remain in the unit for months as healthcare professionals provide acute care and look after the growing baby before they are discharged.
Though there are no plans to expand the unit, Butler says they don't have as many beds as they need because they also care for patients outside of the Island Health region because of the high-level care they can provide.
"With that demand, there's always staffing and capacity issues. But currently, the province manages those beds and so VGH doesn't have plans at the moment to expand critical care beds," she said.
Alec McKay, a representative of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation, said he was inspired to see the families return for the reunion.
"It's a humbling role to be with the hospitals, foundation to help facilitate donations from our community to support our hospitals, and today is such a great example of that, seeing so many babies thriving because of that generous support in the community," said McKay.
He mentioned that over 60 per cent of the equipment in the NICU is funded by donors through the foundation, funding a variety of needs from incubators, to warmers, to ventilators. They recently funded a new jet ventilator, the first on the island, which "wouldn't be possible without philanthropy."
Families spent the morning on the patio enjoying food, refreshments, face-painting, mascots and free ice cream, along with unit nurses and doctors who once cared for the babies.
