NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
Scott & White’s pediatric neonatal expertise ranks among the nation’s top 3 percent for survival rates. The only
Level III facility available between Dallas and Austin, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is capable of caring
for newborns who are born extremely prematurely or who are critically ill and require surgical intervention or
other specialty care. When time is of the essence, families can feel good knowing that specialty pediatric teams
provide ground and air transport for fragile newborns and expectant mothers. Highly specialized technology and
neonatal expertise have helped thousands of families bring their infants home to thrive.
» Damien Sotomayor AGE 8 MONTHS
After a delivery that didn’t go as planned, young Damien is now on track to live a full life
J
essica Sotomayor, US
Army Specialist, was
supposed to deliver
her son Damien at Darnall
Medical Center at Fort Hood,
where Mrs. Sotomayor lives.
But when she showed up with
contractions, there was no room.
“Everyone else was giving birth
that day, so they sent me to
Scott & White,” she says.
The logistical snafu turned
out to be a blessing in disguise
after Damien experienced
respiratory trauma during the
delivery that left him unable to
breathe. Mrs. Sotomayor spent
many hours in labor, during
which time Damien ingested
meconium, a newborn’s first
feces. The sticky substance
coats the lining of the lungs
and keeps an infant from
breathing normally. Most of
the time, doctors can clear
the meconium from an infant’s
mouth before it is inhaled.
Meconium aspiration occurs in
fewer than 1 in 2,000 births.
“Damien was very sick,”
Mrs. Sotomayor recalls. “I was
really hoping for the best—that
he’d make it home.” Damien
spent three days in the Scott &
White Neonatal Intensive Care
Unit (NICU) before doctors took
an even more drastic measure.
They applied extracorporeal
membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
to help Damien’s tiny lungs,
which were unable to oxygenate
his blood. ECMO is highly
sophisticated technology that
supports the body’s heart and
lung function; it’s also used on
adults during heart surgery.
Scott & White was the only
facility between San Antonio
and Dallas to offer ECMO
when Damien was born.
After Damien spent a week
on ECMO, Mrs. Sotomayor saw
his eyes peep open just a little
bit. “The doctors said after that
he started recuperating and
doing better every day. I told
them maybe Damien was
thinking, ‘Oh, man, I’m not in
my mom anymore. I’ve got to
start breathing on my own,’”
she says with a smile.
Damien spent a little more
than a month in the Scott &
White NICU. He now visits his
pediatric neonatologist Dr.
Vinayak Govande at Scott &
White every two months to
make sure he is physically
and mentally developing on
schedule. Careful follow-up
is required after infants have
suffered severe trauma like
Damien did.
At five months Damien was
developing right on track. ★
“Damien was very sick. I was really
hoping for the best—that he’d make
it home.”
—Jessica Sotomayor
sw.org | Fall 10 THE CATALYST
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