'Hope' Offered to Franklin Square's NICU Patients

Jimmy and Cathy Neisser said they never felt more helpless than on Jan. 17 —the day their twin daughters, Kylie and Kaylie, were born.

The Rosedale couple’s girls arrived two months early at Franklin Square Hospital Center and each required a month-long stay in the neonatal intensive care unit.

For the Neissers, who already had two other daughters at home, dealing with the health of the newest additions to their family was a very stressful experience.

“You want to go home and begin the next chapter in your family, but everything is put on hold,” Jimmy Neisser said. “The health of your babies are in the hands of total strangers.”

Despite the girls' early struggles, they are now healthy and on par with other girls their age. The Neissers credit the NICU staff at Franklin Square for helping them nurse their newborns along, but also for helping them deal with all the stress that goes with having a child in the hospital for an extended stay.

The Neissers, along with several other families who had children in the NICU, returned to Franklin Square on Wednesday to share their story as part of the hospital’s celebration of prenatal awareness month.

“They helped us with every aspect of the girls’ care,” Jimmy Neisser said. “They made us feel secure enough to go home for a short while if we needed to and allowed us to call and check on them at any time of the day or night. They even helped us fill out the paperwork so I could take extended time off of work.”

As part of the awareness campaign, Franklin Square also unveiled its NICU’s Wall of Hope. Designed through a collaboration between the hospital, the March of Dimes and a professional photographer, the wall displays photos of many families and their children during their NICU stay and after they left.

The photographer, Mary Gardella, who owns the Savage-based LoveLifeImages.com, volunteered her services for this project, which began in the spring. She said the wall tells an important story and offers parents hope that their children will eventually thrive like those newborns profiled on the wall.

“It’s just incredible,” Gardella said. “I believe the photos offer comfort and reassurance, while not ignoring the reality of the situation. These images capture many of these families at their most vulnerable moments.”

Franklin Square’s chief of neonatology, Dr. Fernando Mena, said the wall is part of the hospital’s effort to be more family-centric. The goal is to make sure to include the family and ensure they feel secure and a part of the process of getting their loved one healthy enough to go home.

The hospital is also working with families to continue to reduce the rate of premature births in Maryland. Part of this is working with pregnant women during their pregnancy to make sure they are getting the proper prenatal care and are properly educated.

According to the March of Dimes, the percentage of premature births in Maryland is 12.7 percent. This earned the state a grade of C by the March of Dimes in its latest premature birth report card.

The goal of the March of Dimes is to lower that rate to 9.6 percent by 2020. Dr. Mena said Franklin Square’s premature birth rate is 12 percent.

“The key is to understand the needs of every family that comes through our doors,” Dr. Mena said. “We try to offer each family all the resources necessary to feel safe while their child is in the NICU.

"That requires the perfect balance of relaying updates on their medical conditions with showing compassion to the families dealing with the stress that comes with having a loved one in the NICU.”