I want to sing the praises of a group of people who are so often overlooked.
November is National Prematurity Awareness Month. Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death. Since 1996, the rate of infants born prematurely in Snohomish County has increased 26 percent. Fifty percent of preterm birth has no known cause. Women simply just go into labor too early.
Providence Everett Medical Center is equipped with a wonderful, state-of-the-art Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the Women and Children’s Pavilion. We are very fortunate to have such a facility in our community. The medical staff, and most specifically, the NICU nurses, play a vital role in our community and in the lives of these tiny struggling babies. Without the NICU at Providence, families would have to travel to Seattle for care. Last year, the NICU in Everett served more than 500 babies. Many families spend weeks and months in the NICU and their daily contact with nursing staff is the single thread of normalcy in their lives.
Today – National Prematurity Awareness Day – we will honor the NICU staff at Providence Everett Medical Center. We invite other families who have also spent time in the NICU to join us for a celebration from 6-8 p.m. in the NICU lobby.
Please join us this month in helping spread the word about the frequency of premature birth. One in every eight babies across the country is born prematurely. And please thank the nurses you know in our community.
Robert and Kathleen Lefcourt
Washington State Prematurity Ambassador Family
March of Dimes
Everett
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