Orange Regional celebrates its NICU graduates

MIDDLETOWN — Orange Regional Medical Center held a very special first birthday celebration on May 11 for the Rowley Family Birthing Center’s Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Orange Regional NICU graduates, along with their parents and siblings, enjoyed a fun-filled celebration that included a barbeque lunch, face painting, juggling, balloon animals and live children’s music. The event provided an opportunity for Orange Regional’s NICU staff to reunite with the babies they cared for, and the families they provided support to, while spending time in the specialized unit during its first year. Additionally, Dr. Manuel DeCastro, neonatologist and Orange Regional’s NICU site director, welcomed the families and visited with the graduates.

“It has been a privilege to help all our NICU babies get a solid start to life. It has also been rewarding to know that we have been able to keep families together, here in Orange County, while the infants grow strong during their stay in our NICU,” said DeCastro.

Orange Regional’s Level II NICU provides specialized care to premature and critically ill newborns. The 10-bed unit complements current perinatal services and provides a full array of specialized equipment along with all required support services, around the clock. Full-time neonatologists affiliated with Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center and specially trained neonatal nurses and nurse practitioners also provide expertise and support to infants and their families.