My Emergency Room Is Not Equipped For Babies

We moved to the neighborhood we currently live in, when we were expecting the arrival of our little girl.

When we met the neighbors, one of the first pieces of advice we were given was “Do not have your baby at the local hospital, they are not equipped for babies”. Not equipped for babies? I had never heard of such a thing.

Our son, had been an NICU baby and the thought of a hospital not being equipped to handle such situations was beyond scary.

Ryan 2 days old- 2005

Thankfully, Ryan’s NICU experience was fine. He was home within 1 week of delivery. And When it came to the delivery of our daughter, we did not deliver at  hospital we were warned about and we were blessed to have Laina enter the world without any issues or need for the NICU. Still, we were thankful for the advice and always keep it in mind should we ever have some emergency situation with the kids.

I was sure that our local hospital was a rare case- until this year when my friend Rebecca introduced me to the R Baby Foundation. Turns out that my local hospital was not the rare case I thought it was. Rebecca shared with me a horrifying story about her experience with a hospital in NYC and the statistics about pediatric emergency care in this country are down right SCARY.

(From rbabyfoundation.org)

FACT: Many drugs and medical devices have not been adequately tested on, or dosed properly for, children – including babies.

FACT: Although pediatric skills deteriorate quickly without practice, continuing education in pediatric care is not required or is extremely limited for many prehospital emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

FACT: Emergency medical services and emergency departments are not well equipped to handle pediatric care. Most children receive emergency care in general (not children’s) hospitals, which are less likely to have pediatric expertise, equipment, and policies in place for the care of children.

RBaby is working every day to get emergency rooms around  the country to set a standard in pediatric care and become equipped for our babies.

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