(Providence, RI) – After a four-year hiatus due to COVID, on Sunday, September 15th from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Women & Infants Hospital is once again hosting our annual NICU Neonatal Follow-Up Clinic Reunion to celebrate children who were born in 2020 and cared for in the NICU and followed in the Follow-Up Clinic. There will be a magician, characters, activity tables, and of course, birthday cake.
“I’m delighted that we can celebrate our 2020 babies as they turn 4 this year,” said Elisabeth McGowan, MD, Director, NICU Neonatal Follow-Up Program, Women & Infants Hospital. “COVID was a tremendously stressful period on many different levels, and our families and babies have shown so much resilience. To be able to come together and acknowledge all the hard work of families and the milestone achievements of some of our smallest patients at the hospital is what makes this Follow-Up Program so special.”
The Women & Infants Follow-Up Clinic provides comprehensive, family-centered developmental, behavioral, medical, nutritional, and social support to high-risk infants born at WIH and cared for in the NICU, particularly infants born less than 34 weeks gestational age. The clinic consists of neonatologists, pediatricians, nurse practitioners, psychologists, and social workers who provide clinic visits 4 days a week in addition to home visits for some patients. We provide care that begins in the NICU and supports the critical transition to the home period. Our services continue to support families up to age 5.
The program at Women & Infants Hospital was established in 1974 and is one of the first of its kind in the country. Its mission is to provide clinical support to high-risk NICU infants and their families, to engage in high-quality research that focuses on improving their neurodevelopmental outcomes, and to educate trainees on the importance of early developmental support.
About Women & Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. A major teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology, and newborn pediatrics, as well as a number of specialized programs in women’s medicine, Women & Infants is the ninth largest stand-alone obstetrical service in the country and the largest in New England with approximately 8,700 deliveries per year. Women & Infants is a Designated Baby-Friendly® USA hospital and was recently ranked by Newsweek as one of America's Best Maternity Hospitals in 2024. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology ranked 11 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Medical Schools specialty ranking.
Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiography; a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high-risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology, and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network, and Pelvic Floors Disorders Network, as well as the National Cancer Institute’s Gynecologic Oncology Group.