Amit and Natasha Arora recall their fear during their son’s 135-day stay in Sunnybrook’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“His lungs, brain, heart: that’s all we focused on during the early days,” says Amit, who explains Aaron was born just under 24 weeks and immediately intubated. “Thank goodness the team explained everything in simple terms for us.”
Aaron is now a healthy and active toddler. Most days Amit and Natasha find it difficult to imagine the intense stress and worry they had about their only child. They say they now appreciate the quality of critical care their son received.
This quality was confirmed by the Canadian Neonatal Network which recently reported that the hospital’s NICU has the best clinical outcomes in the country. Sunnybrook has the lowest rates of death or incidence of morbidities combined in babies born under 33 weeks of gestation. Morbidities include chronic lung disease, intraventricular hemorrhage, vision and hearing impairment, as well as cerebral palsy, reduced cognition and motor performance, academic difficulties and attention-deficit disorders.
Every year, approximately 700 infants stay in Sunnybrook’s NICU, and 90 babies are considered “micro-preemies”. Micro-preemies are born at fewer than 26 weeks of gestation, and Sunnybrook cares for the most micro-preemies in Canada.
Being born too early is the leading cause of infant death in Canada. In the NICU, babies born very early are hooked up to many different pieces of equipment—machines to help them breathe; intravenous and other feeding tubes; and devices to monitor their heart and breathing rates, blood pressure and blood oxygen content.
Dr. Asaph Rolnitsky, Chief of Sunnybrook’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, says a combination of clinical expertise in focusing on the smallest babies, paired with a caring team who are intensively collaborative, helps explain the excellent outcomes.
“This is a specialized team who are not only working closely with each other, but also keeping in daily contact with the hospital’s high-risk obstetrics team,” says Dr. Rolnitsky, who explains the approach helps the neonatal team to be prepared for new admissions. “We have strong relationships with our system partners – SickKids and Mount Sinai – ensuring we’re on top of trends with preterm births in Canada. We also lead in research, education and technology.”
Sunnybrook’s family-centred care experience is another feature which sets the unit apart. “One of the most important conversations with families, which we have early on, is what having a premature baby means for them,” says Rolnitsky. “We try to keep in mind what prematurity means for each family, both in hospital and later for long-term follow-up, and for development and growth.”
Amit and Natasha agree that the early discussions with the Sunnybrook care team were vital. “They were open and honest with us,” Natasha says. “We knew Aaron would be very fragile over the first few months. And we knew he may have ongoing health issues into childhood and as an adult. We are grateful to the team for not only the excellent care but the emotional support they provided us along the way.”
The findings of the report were based upon data collected from 33 health care organizations that were members of the Canadian Neonatal Network during 2022.