Find an ob/gyn physician
Find a neonatologist

The New Saint Vincent Neonatal Intensive Care Unit:
The Highest Level of Care for the Tiniest Patients

New parents and physicians from Erie and the surrounding region choose Saint Vincent Health Center nearly twice as often as any other area provider for the care of sick and premature infants. To meet this ever-increasing demand, Saint Vincent in late 2008 opened its $2.8 million state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). 

This state-of-the-art, 10,000-square-foot space includes nineteen individual “pods,” an integrated series of private spaces – one for each infant – where they can receive the expert care they need from our neonatologists and neonatal intensive care nurses.  The new pod design also offers a quieter, more peaceful, private, restful environment for these infants to recover and bond with their families.

The unit also provides for three specialized nursing stations to be strategically located throughout the unit so that the nurses are always close.  Each pod also features the Philips MP-30, state-of-the-art advanced technology for monitoring, which provides centralized access to vital information about each infant.

The new Saint Vincent NICU also features five Giraffe Omni-Beds, which minimize the need to move fragile babies by converting from incubator to radiant warmer and featuring a built-in X-ray cassette tray and scale. The Giraffe also features a warming drawer for diapers and blankets, special environmental controls, quiet alarms and dual-access side ports that allow parents to touch and hold their baby when doctors and nurses are caring for them.

Expectant parents choose Saint Vincent for delivery more often than any other area hospital because they not only receive the region’s best obstetric care, but also the reassurance that, should there be a medical issue with their newborn, this is the health center with the most experienced medical and nursing staff for sick and premature babies. And now, we offer the largest, most well-designed, technologically advanced NICU in the region.

The Saint Vincent NICU also features a family waiting room, which was funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities of Erie. The family waiting room is a space specifically designed with parents and families in mind. This is a place where they can get refreshments and log onto a computer to check their personal email and keep connected with families, as well as sending updates on their new baby.

Saint Vincent Health Center has seen a marked increase in the number of babies delivered over the past few years with a monthly average of 200 births. 

The Saint Vincent Center for Neonatal Intensive Care

The Saint Vincent Center for Neonatal Intensive Care is the region’s most preferred resource for high risk deliveries and premature or sick infants. More physicians and parents choose Saint Vincent to meet the needs of these patients than any other facility in the region.

And for good reason.

The Center offers a highly experienced, exceptional team of neonatal specialists, including two dedicated neonatologists with more than 30 years of combined experience, a neonatal nurse practitioner, and an expert team of nursing specialists. We also offer the region’s most experienced neonatal transport team, five trained experts who work in partnership with LifeStar to transport premature infants from as far away as Roanoke, Va., and travel to regional hospitals for high risk deliveries when maternal transport is not possible. Our team transports more infants than any other in the region.

The Saint Vincent Center for Neonatal Intensive Care, founded in 1982, is the only NICU in the region to operate continuously since its inception, assuring the region of expert care for its tiniest patients.