My newborn daughter was sent to the NICU at Scottish Rite August 2019 and stayed for about a week and a half. While there, she saw specialists, became stable, and then my husband and I got the training we needed to care for her before she was discharged. Our entire experience with Scottish Rite (and our continued appointments) were all wonderful.
Our daughter, MJ, spent lots of time not just with the NICU staff, but she saw specialists from multiple other team: ENT, craniofacial, audiology, speech therapy, genetics, nutrition, and GI. Add on a lactation consultant and social worker, and I think that includes everyone we got to meet. Each team made sure to meet us as the parents as best they could, and we had many conversations about big medical issues, but everyone did a wonderful job of making sure we understood everything and got our questions answered. In fact, absolutely everyone made sure we didn't have any more questions for the time being before moving on to their next appointments.
I've been so impressed by the staff at Scottish Rite. At one time, I was discussing MJ's formula needs with the nutritionist when she began to have a problem. I tended to her, but I was pretty shaken up and began to cry, right there in front of the nutritionist, who helped with MJ and helped with me. I found myself spilling to her how sad and nervous I was about caring for my frail daughter, and the nutritionist encouraged and comforted me and stayed with me as long as I needed. She gave me a hug when I asked for one, and I really appreciated her going above and beyond to help stabilize me.
The facilities here are wonderful. As if the main office building weren't already warm, welcoming, clean, and beautiful, the NICU adds on a bit more. I think this is incredibly thoughtful because having a baby hospitalized is very taxing and the nice things and accommodations made for us while MJ was there made everything more bearable. The rooms themselves have a lot of space set up for the families. We had just come from the Emory Midtown NICU, and in comparison, the Scottish Rite NICU space felt like a luxury. There is dedicated space by every bedside with at least one recliner, pillows to put under your arms, and curtains to pull around the area for privacy. There are breast pumps that you can use at the bedside, though there's also a lactation room with pumps and cleaning supplies.
Every breastfeeding mom is put on the lactation diet, which means, in exchange for the milk you give your baby, the hospital gives you food, too. You get compensation toward 3 meals a day, and the room service charge to bring the food up to the NICU waiting room is waived for you. Your partner also gets an amount toward their meals. This was a huge money saver for us during our time. I was also given all the pump parts I needed. The lactation consultant even got me smaller sized flanges, which I was able to take home with me.
The whiteboard at the bedside was a handy way to communicate with staff if we missed them. MJ was given a small notebook that I used to write letters to her (a kind NICU nurse beat me to writing the first letter). There are books available in English and Spanish, and the NICU has a program encouraging you to read to your baby. There is a visitor bathroom outside the NICU, and the waiting room has a fridge, freezer, plasticware, TV, and vending machines. You're also able to make use of the rest of the hospital's facilities like the chapel, koi pond (when it's reopened), and garden.
Thanks to a generous sponsor, all NICU parents get their first 5 parking tickets covered, and then you're able to buy a 5-ticket pass for a discounted rate. So far, I've only been once when the main office building parking was full, and the second deck available still allowed me to park near the building.
To be discharged from the NICU, the baby needs to pass a car seat test and parents (at least 2 caregivers) need to attend 4 classes: Car seat class, CPR, Transition Home class, & watching a video on purple crying. We were able to knock all of these out in one day. The CPR class was the most beneficial to us, though it was also helpful to know about the purple crying. The Transition class was mostly about baby basics, and as we had taken a Baby Basics class at Piedmont, this class felt like a waste of our time.
The NICU is very family-friendly. We often brought MJ's twin with us to visit. At the bedside, there's room enough for us two parents, the bed, our other daughter, and the nurses. Only 2 visitors are allowed at the bedside at a time, but our other daughter was allowed to visit with us every time and stayed in her car seat.
The cafeteria had good options every time we visited, by the way. There were always hotdogs and burgers and fries, pre-made salads, and many sweet and snacky options available. During prime mealtimes, there were hot cook-to-order options, soups, fried chicken and sides.
Our baby received excellent care and so did we. read more