Start them young: St. Luke's Hospital's special care nursery debuts Sharon's Library

NEW BEDFORD — As of Wednesday, the new state-of-the-art Level II special care nursery at St. Luke's Hospital is now up and running, meaning babies who were born premature, ill, or with other complications and their parents are in for a much different experience than those requiring the same level of care in the past, as the unit — the only one quite like it in the area — is designed to minimize the separation of parents and baby that such medical attention often entails.

"So you have a mom who's just given birth, and as soon as her baby is determined to be one who needs the more intensive care of a Level II nursery, unfortunately in most places they're being separated immediately," said St. Luke's Medical Director of the Special Care Nursery Dr. Jessica Slusarsk ahead of Wednesday's opening. "That's taking away that ability to bond, breastfeed and all of those things."

Slusarsk said while parents have always been allowed to visit their babies while in Level II care, the new set-up will be much more conducive to the kind of maternity experience health care professionals have long wished to provide those who perhaps need it the most.

"What is unique about this unit is that we have single-patient rooms, so each baby has their own room and space which allows parents to be at their bedside throughout the day," explained Slusarski. "They can spend the night on a sofa that converts to a bed, we have a kangaroo chair in the room where mothers can do a lot of skin-to-skin. It’s a place where they have a little bit more privacy, a little bit more space.

"They will be able to be much more active in the day-to-day care of their baby and it just promotes the ability for new parents to get more comfortable being with their baby all the time."

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"And the evidence shows with babies who are premature or sick, by having their families close, it hopefully helps to decrease the length of stay, it increases bonding with the baby, it increases the education, breastfeeding opportunities, and discharge readiness," added St. Luke’s Women and Children’s Pavilion Executive Director Kim Pina, RN.

Reading into parenthood: Sharon's Library

The aesthetic of the new unit is strikingly modern, with framed, enlarged photographs of happy families whose children were born at St. Luke's adorning the hallway walls. The patient rooms, each themed after a different classic children's book, feature the latest in medical equipment, and — with the flip a switch — the glass windows looking in convert from clear to barely-transparent frosted glass for increased privacy, while a centralized monitoring system keeps hospital staff on alert to emergencies.

According to Slusarski and Pina, the book-themed decor led to another unique feature of the new Level II nursery experience at St. Luke's: each family will get to take home a brand new children's book, donated by local nonprofit The Friends of Jack Foundation, each marked with a "Sharon's Library" sticker. While the idea is newly officialized in conjunction with the opening of the new unit, it's a practice that has been carried out at St. Luke's Level II nursery for some time now thanks to recently retired nurse of 44 years for whom the effort is named for, Sharon Souza. During her career in the unit, Souza not only made it a point to educate parents on the benefits of reading to babies at the earliest point possible, but started bringing in books for them to keep.

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"I've always tried to teach parents how important reading to their babies is — how important it is in furthering their understanding of language, doing well in school, socially — because during the first few years of life, they're forming more than a million new connections in their brain every second," said Souza, who retired in July. "A neonatologist at Tufts University had been involved in a study of over 20,000 preterm babies and they found that the two biggest factors for how they’d do for their entire life were ... weight gain after the initial weight loss that all babies have, and being read to every single day.

"So I really tried to instill that in parents, and I gave them books, because who’s thinking about books when you just had a baby eight weeks early?"

Teaching: It's not just for teachers

Throughout Souza's long career in nursing, her impulse to educate dualized her role as she found places where it intersected with teaching. "I actually used to teach sex ed. to eighth-graders — that was fun; they had some good questions — and I also taught a parenting class in the jail for 15 years," she said, also noting having earned a certification in infant mental health.

But those weren't the only ways Souza steered her role toward its teaching function. As educators recognized the emphasis placed on teaching in her work, Souza says being invited into teacher groups played a big part in jumpstarting her unofficial book distribution initiative at the hospital. "I belonged to an honor society for teachers even though I’m a nurse, and literacy was one of their big projects so they started to give me books. And Southcoast had a program ... which did sex ed. and promoted positive behaviors in the community and they were also able to get me books," she said. "And I'd also buy books myself, and rubber ducks for bathtime."

Not-so-retired

While she's been retired since the summer, Souza hasn't really gone anywhere, still volunteering at the Level II nursery unit regularly, and still spreading the word to parents that they should be reading to their babies.

"I joked with a dad this morning whose baby just came into the nursery: you can read anything — sports, mechanics — anything except sex or violence," she said. "So it doesn’t matter what you read, just that you’re reading to them and the baby hears your voice.

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"Even if parents can't read very well themselves or don't speak the language, one thing I learned is that you can just tell babies about the pictures in the book."

Souza says her favorite children's book for babies is "Are You My Mother?" by Dr. Seuss. "I actually have 50 copies coming in right now so I can give those out to the parents. That's my favorite book in the world!"

For Pina — who says Souza was one of the nurses who cared for her granddaughter when she was born — Southcoast Health's slogan comes to mind when thinking about Souza.

"When we talk about 'more than medicine,' that's Sharon," Pina said. "She knows having a baby in this unit is difficult but she makes everyone feel so comfortable and welcomed and wants them to be prepared to go home. Anyone Sharon worked with is very, very lucky."

"We have amazing nurses in our Level II nursery, but the one everyone remembers is Sharon," said Slusarski. "She taught the baths, the importance of babies hearing their parents' voices; she really engages parents and tries to build up their confidence with their babies."

Future outlooks

As for the impact the new unit will have in the community and in the lives of families with babies born there, Slusarski said she's hopeful it will become apparent in measurable ways. "We know babies do better when the parents are there and more involved, and they have confidence at discharge, so I hope that in looking at the metrics we follow, we start seeing babies not having to stay here as long, fewer pediatrician visits after discharge, less need for VNA visits and things like that."

"Our goal, eventually, would be to maybe one day bring this type of unit to Charlton," Pina said. "It's what is best for these babies and their parents."

Souza says while she's flattered by the way Southcoast has chosen to honor her legacy of encouraging early literacy, she's more glad just to know parents at the unit will continue receiving books.

"I don’t even need to have my name anywhere, just knowing when I’m not here anymore to bring in books, parents and babies will still be getting them for years to come," she said.

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This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: 'Sharon's Library' debuts with new special care nursery at St. Luke's