NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Jill E. McCormick, Director, Marketing & Planning
St. Edward Mercy Health System
Phone: 479-314-6037
Email: jill.mccormick@mercy.net

St. Edward Mercy Unveils NICU Transport Vehicle

September 2, 2008 – (Fort Smith, AR) St. Edward Mercy Medical Center will unveil its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Transport vehicle at a dedication ceremony to be held at 11 a.m. on September 9 in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Parking Lot, located in front of the Medical Center’s Women’s Center entrance. NICU Transport Team Staff and former patients will be on hand at this event.

The neonatal transport vehicle will transfer infants requiring the services that only a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit can provide, from other facilities to the St. Edward Mercy Medical Center NICU. The St. Edward Mercy Medical Center offers the only Level III NICU in the region.

The addition of the NICU Transport to the St. Edward Mercy NICU is a vital step in meeting the region’s growing need for intensive care for neonatal patients. The ability to keep infants and their families close to home while receiving care is crucial to meeting the needs of the community St. Edward Mercy serves.

The specially-designed transport vehicle was purchased with funds raised by the St. Edward Mercy Auxiliary. The vehicle contains specialized equipment designed to handle the needs of a critically-ill infant. The vehicle will be staffed by a specially-trained Transport Team, which will include a respiratory therapist and Registered Nurse.

The NICU Transport will serve select locations in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. The vehicle will begin transporting infants in Arkansas in September and will provide service to eastern Oklahoma as early as November. The transport is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. St. Edward Mercy anticipates transporting three to five infants per month in the first year.

Once transported to the NICU, the infant’s specialized care is under the supervision of neonatologist Dr. Victor Coloso.

Prior to arriving at St. Edward Mercy Medical Center, Dr. Coloso was in private practice in Martin County and Palm Beach, Florida. He completed his pediatrics residency at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey, and his neonatology fellowship at the University of Miami at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The St. Edward Mercy Medical Center launched the NICU in November 2006 when it hired Dr. Coloso. The NICU serves infants born at 26 weeks of gestation and later. The NICU nursery has a 25-isolette capacity and has served almost 500 infants and their families since the nursery opened.

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