AtlantiCare celebrates Major League Miracles during NICU Reunion
June 6, 2022
AtlantiCare Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduates and their families reunited the doctors, nurses and staff who cared for them during a NICU reunion June 4. AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s Roger B. Hansen Center for Childbirth hosted the celebratory event for children who were born at the center over the last four years and needed care in the Level III NICU. AtlantiCare usually hosts reunions every five years, however it celebrated a year earlier to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the NICU. Watch the video.
The theme of the event was Major League Miracles – in recognition of the challenges babies and families have overcome after babies were born early or with special medical needs. The celebration also recognized the care and support the AtlantiCare team provided these families.
“Whether you spent a few days with us, a few weeks, or even months with us, you are in our hearts forever, and you will always be a part of the AtlantiCare family,” said Larisa Goganzer, MSN, RN, FACHE, chief operating officer, ARMC and former Labor and Delivery and Maternal Newborn nurse and clinical director. “We celebrate our special graduates. We thank our dedicated NICU team of neonatologists and other physicians, nurses, technicians, respiratory therapists, and many other support team members. They provide exceptional care to our youngest patients,” she said as families cheered for the care team.
AtlantiCare Emergency Medical Services, Galloway Township Police Department and Ambulance Squad as well as Oceanville, Germania, Bayview, and South Egg Harbor Volunteer Fire departments gave first responder vehicle tours. Children did crafts, played games, and met with Spider-Man, Captain America and Wonder Woman character actors. Many local businesses and other organizations contributed to the event.
“Many of our graduates were born weighing less than a pound,” said Jennifer Tioseco, M.D., medical director, CHOP Newborn Care Network and medical director, ARMC NICU, neonatologist and mother of three including twins who spent time in the NICU. “It’s wonderful to see them running, playing and doing so well.”
The lowest birthweight baby for whom the AtlantiCare team has cared was 13.7 ounces. The earliest gestational age baby was 23 weeks.
AtlantiCare’s NICU opened in ARMC Atlantic City Campus in 1972 (then known as Atlantic City Hospital). The NICU moved to ARMC Mainland Campus in 2005 when the Roger B. Hansen Center for Childbirth opened in that campus. The NICU team includes CHOP neonatologists, who are on-site 24/7 exclusively at AtlantiCare through CHOP Newborn and Pediatric Care at AtlantiCare; and neonatal registered nurses; and other staff. Providers and staff from AtlantiCare OB/GYN, Maternal Fetal Medicine and other specialty areas throughout AtlantiCare contribute to the life-saving care of NICU babies and their families.
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AtlantiCare is an integrated healthcare system based in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, whose more than 6,000 staff, providers and volunteers serve the community in more than 100 locations in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May and Ocean counties of southern New Jersey. Its vision of building healthy communities together drives its mission of making a difference in health and healing, one person at a time, through caring and trusting relationships. A Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winner, AtlantiCare was also included in Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work. AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center was the 105th hospital in the nation to attain the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet™ designation in 2004
