Published Promise 2025
Many expecting parents eagerly anticipate the first moments of their babies’ lives. But when newborns require care in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), those early memories can be very scary.
So, it’s no small feat that St. Paul’s Hospital is the referral site for the most medically complex obstetric patients in British Columbia—in difficult cases, parents turn to the St. Paul’s Hospital team to deliver swift, compassionate care in those critical hours, days, or weeks.
Dr. Judy Wolfe has been a pediatrician at St. Paul’s Hospital for 25 years and knows the current Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) inside and out. The NICU supports babies that require close monitoring or medical intervention after birth. It’s an open-bed model, meaning that all of the newborns receive care in the same room.
The nine incubators and other necessary medical equipment leave little extra space, so parents spend the first few days or weeks of their baby’s life sleeping in separate rooms.
“It’s very small and very crowded,” Dr. Wolfe says. The team is overdue for a better space to work in.
The NICU opening at the new St. Paul’s Hospital on the Jim Pattison Medical Campus will give families more space, resources, and privacy. Individual rooms allow new parents to stay with their babies 24/7. This means that birthing parents will be able to receive postpartum or post-birth care in the same room as their baby, even if their baby requires specialized care.
“There is evidence to suggest that the best way to get sick babies more stable is skin-to-skin care,” says Dr. Wolfe.
Parents staying with their babies allows more opportunity for that invaluable contact. Plus, NICU staff can more easily support first-time parents—think teaching essential skills like feeding, diapering, and safe sleep practices—when they’re all in the same room.
“This makes it easier for families to go home feeling comfortable and confident,” says Dr. Wolfe.
The Current NICU at St. Paul’s Hospital
• The open-bed NICU is a single, large room that can accommodate up to nine babies at once. Parents can sit in chairs next to their babies but cannot sleep in the room.
• All parents must stay in their own hospital rooms outside of the NICU. Once discharged, parents must travel from home to visit their babies.
• There is no washroom or laundry room available in the NICU.
• There is no isolation space to limit exposure in the event of an infection or disease (such as COVID-19).
The NICU at the new St. Paul’s Hospital
• Each family will have their own private room. There are 10 rooms, each large enough to accommodate both an incubator and a parent bed. Two of these rooms are large enough to fit two incubators (for twins) and a parent bed.
• Most parents can stay in the NICU, receiving care in the same room as their babies. Parents are welcome to remain in the same room throughout their babies’ stay.
• Each private room has its own washroom, and there is a shared laundry room for parents to wash their baby’s clothes.
• Two isolation rooms provide space to separate patients if needed; both are sealed with negative pressure to prevent the spread of germs.
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