Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip is just weeks away from becoming the only Long Island hospital with Nicview cameras in its neonatal intensive care unit, according to hospital officials.
The cameras will provide password-protected live streaming to connect babies in the NICU with parents, grandparents and other relatives looking to peek in on their little loved one’s progress.
“I think the parents will be thrilled with it,” said Laurie Mastandrea, Good Samaritan’s NICU nurse manager. “And now they can get an actual picture of what the baby looks like at that moment, rather than just hearing it from a nurse.”
The cameras will also be great for grandparents who often don’t live nearby.
“Sometimes we have babies whose grandparents are in another state,” Mastrandrea said. “Or even if they just live in Brooklyn or Queens, they can’t always get here to see the babies.”
Good Sam is expecting 10 cameras to arrive soon for installation, which is followed by training.
From there it’s about finalizing a plan on how to best use them.
For instance, 10 cameras won’t cover all the beds in the NICU. But only 10 were ordered because the unit first wants to try them before ordering more.
So, the NICU nursing staff will have to figure out which babies will be on camera, why, and when.
“We’ll probably keep them on most of the day and most of the night,” Mastrandrea said. “They will definitely be turned off while we’re doing care on the infants. Or if the baby is upset, we’ll probably turn the camera off and make the babies comfortable.”
At those times, a message might pop up indicate the baby is being cared for at the moment, she said. There’s also no sound on the cameras.
According to the Natus Medical Incorporated, the providers of Nicview, the idea is to enhance the parent-infant bonding experience and family-centered care, even when the parents cannot be at the baby’s bedside.
The live streams are not recorded but can be viewed through a desktop, tablet, mobile phone or anything with Internet access that allows the viewer to login to Nicview.
The 10 cameras cost about $34,000, all of which came from money donated by the Guilds of Good Samaritan, a hospital spokesman said.
The live streams are free for parents and relatives to enjoy.
Mastrandrea said the cameras should also help working parents better preserve their available time away from work while their babies are at Good Sam.
“Some of these babies are here three to five months, and mom might want to save some of her time for when the baby is back home,” she said.
Check back at GreaterBabylon for updates on Good Sam’s new Nicview cameras.
