(Newburgh) - Families touched by the care provided by SLCH’s Elaine Kaplan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) gathered in celebration Sunday (October 29) for the Unit’s 9th Annual Graduate Birthday Party. More than 200 guests - including former patients, their siblings, and parents, as well as NICU staff and SLCH leadership - attended the event, sponsored by the SLC Health System Foundation Auxiliary. Members of the Kaplan Family, who were instrumental in establishing the NICU at SLCH nine years ago, participated in the celebration and led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday.”
The NICU, located at St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital’s Newburgh campus, is a 10-bed intensive care unit for critically ill and premature infants. Since it opened in 1997, the NICU’s neonatologists, specially trained nurses, and support team have cared for more than 1,700 babies, the smallest of whom weighed 2 lbs.
Sue Sullivan, St. Luck’s Cornwall Hospital Vice President of Development and Marketing, was among those who welcomed former patients and their families to the celebration. “Most of these children faced serious health challenges as infants. It’s so rewarding to see them growing up happy and healthy, and to know we played a role in the well-being they enjoy today,” she said. “This annual party a gift from our Auxiliary - allows our NICU graduates and their families to reconnect with one another, as well with our care-giving team.”
Also participating in the festivities were SLCH Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Joan Cusack-McGuirk, Neonatal Intesive Care Unit neonatologist Prabhakar Kocherlakota, M.D., Senator and Mrs. Bill Larkin, and several hospital, Foundation, and Auxiliary board members.
Pictured above from left to right is Senator Bill Larkin, Sheila Kaplan, William Kaplan, Dr. Prabhakar Kocherlakota, and Joan Cusack-McGuirk, St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer.
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