Life saving facility

Mike Nitz said without the state-of-the-art facilities at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, their son Jaxon might not be alive today.

Now 20 pounds, minutes after his July 7 arrival he was whisked from the delivery room and the arms of his mother Dawn, taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, hooked up to a series of tubes and machines and nursed back to health.

"You can understand that this kind of experience would cause a lot of anxiety on our part. Really over the next couple of hours we were worried about his well-being and whether he was actually going to make it," Mike Nitz said Monday, at the launch of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation’s annual Grand Christmas Tree fundraising campaign.

"But over those couple of hours the hospital was tremendous in their communication with us. We were always updated on what was happening with little Jax and it was just A-1 service all around."

Jaxon spent two weeks in the NICU, and the support they found there made trying times bearable, he added, encouraging the public to help the cause with a donation of any size.

"Really it was like a family. The NICU and the pediatric nurses felt a close bond and they looked forward to working with Jaxon. I actually understand they competed over who got to look after him each day because he was a great kid … It was great to see the dollars that the foundation contributes to the NICU department were used in Jaxon’s case and I’m proud to have contributed to the foundation in the past as well as continuing in the future," he said.

Last year, 1,580 babies were born at the Regional Hospital, more than a quarter of whom needed specialized care found in the neonatal centre.

Nancy Perischino, the director of maternal newborn at the hospital, said some babies only need a few hour of NICU care, while others, like Jaxon NItz, need longer.

An additional 1,500 children are seen through the pediatric unit each year, and about 5,000 are seen at the pediatric outpatients centre.

"We’re a very busy department and the foundation has helped us immensely purchasing and replacing equipment because our patients are not just mini adults. They require very specialized equipment," she said.

From monitors to warmer to incubators, it’s not an inexpensive task, Perishcino added. And there are added costs other departments don’t necessarily incur.

" We also use the foundation’s donations to purchase entertainment for the children, so DVD’s and Playstations, as well as creating a child-friendly atmosphere," she said.

For each donation to the Grand Christmas Tree, housed in the hospital’s main lobby, a star bearing the donor’s name will be hung on the tree, or they can send a star with a personalized message to a caregiver at the hospital.

To donate visit www.healthsciencesfoundation.ca or phone 345-4673.