Pediatrix Neonatology of Florida at Fort Myers

We value a team approach toward care in a developmentally sensitive and family-centered unit. Our team supports a culture of life-long learning and professional growth, with a robust quality-improvement program and a focus on multidisciplinary integration and collaboration with our hospital partners.  

A neonatologist is a pediatrician with special training in caring for babies that are sick and require intensive care after birth. Neonatologists coordinate the care for the babies in the NICU. At times, the neonatologist might consult with other specialists to help with your baby’s care. Although there are many different people involved in your baby’s care while in the NICU, the neonatologist determines and coordinates the daily care plan.

NNPs are neonatal nurses who have obtained a graduate degree with an emphasis in caring for the needs of premature and critically ill newborns and their families. NNPs work in collaboration with a neonatologist to diagnose and treat babies. 

Lee Health HealthPark Medical Center and Golisano Children’s Hospital are known as one of 11 recognized regional perinatal care centers (RPICC) in Florida. Our RPICC program works to improve the outcomes of pregnancy, providing services to women with high-risk pregnancy and care for newborns with critical illness, low birth weight or congenital anomalies. Our services are annually reviewed and certified by the state.

The health system has two facilities. Our state-of-the art facility at Golisano Children's Hospital is a 70-bed, Level-III NICU while Cape Coral Hospital provides a Level-I low-risk delivery service. 

As of 2023, there were about 7,000 in-born deliveries per year. We provide care to sick babies in Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Hendry/Glades counties, averaging 900 to 1,000 NICU admissions annually. Our Level-III NICU provides all subspecialty services (except cardiovascular surgery and ECMO) and high-risk delivery service coverage, with 24-hour in-house neonatology and NNP coverage.

We work closely with our hospital partners in a perinatal-center setting, with monthly fetal board meetings led by maternal-fetal medicine specialists and multidisciplinary coordination of care of high-risk pregnancies.

The Pediatrix mission is to Take great care of the patient, every day and in every way^TM. We strive for medical excellence through ongoing review and refinement of our care and outcomes.  

Our practice also recognizes that for the medical team to always provide the best care, we must take care of ourselves. This means providing a staffing model that supports the importance of achieving a satisfactory work/life balance. We seek to provide each member of our team the opportunity to enjoy their own personal time with family and friends and a work environment that facilitates the pursuit of medical education and teaching, quality-improvement projects, clinical research and other avenues of professional growth.  

Family-friendly and filled with activities and amenities for all ages, our community embraces a dedicated commitment to quality of life. The weather is one of the area’s best assets, allowing for endless opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors, such as fishing, bicycling, tennis, a multitude of water sports and wonderful sandy beaches. The region offers some of the most sought-after golf courses in the world. The area boasts a wide variety of schools from primary to college level, and there is no state income tax.

• Neonatal transport: The neonatal transport team is comprised of specially trained staff who are experts in handling pediatric and neonatal patients. They provide 24/7 resources to emergently move your baby to our facility or back to another facility as needed.
• Quality care for the entire range of gestational ages with a recent perinatal quality-improvement initiative targeting optimizing care of 22- to 23-week gestation infants.
• NICU services that include close collaboration with fully staffed neonatal ICU nurses, respiratory therapists, pediatric pharmacists, dieticians, occupational, physical and speech and language specialists, lactation consultants, as well as social services and discharge care coordination.
• We also understand that some families cannot visit as often as they would like so we have a Cuddler Program to ensure all infants receive the human touch that is essential for optimal growth and development.
• Through our hospital partner, your baby will also be offered outpatient follow-up through the NICU Neurodevelopmental Clinic.
• In-house perinatal and neonatal pediatric subspecialty care services include: 
  • Pediatric surgical subspecialities: General surgery, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, otolaryngology (ENT), urology, anesthesiology
  • Pediatric medical subspecialities: Infectious disease, endocrinology, pulmonary, gastroenterology, nephrology, genetics/metabolic, cardiology, hematology, neurology, ophthalmology
  • Pediatric radiology and pathology

Your baby may require blood for different lab tests. The nursing or medical staff are highly trained in obtaining blood samples by accessing a small vein or placing an umbilical catheter.

Blood products, such as packed red blood cells (PRBCs), platelets, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) or fresh frozen plasma (FFP), might be suggested for your baby. The medical team attempts to minimize the need for blood products; however, your baby might need a blood product transfusion. Be assured the blood bank adheres to all blood product screenings recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) standards, including ABO blood type compatibilities and antibodies and serologic testing for syphilis, human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) 1 and 2, human T-lymphotrophic viruses (HTLV) I and II, hepatitis B and C, and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Despite these precautions, there is the possibility that new risks will be identified in the future. The risks associated with a blood transfusion can include but are not limited to, febrile reactions, allergic reactions, shock, serious infections, respiratory problems, lung damage, hemolytic transfusion reaction and exposure to infectious diseases such as hepatitis, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), CMV and HTLV.

Double volume exchange transfusion: Some babies may require complete replacement of blood (two times the normal blood volume of the baby) due to severe jaundice (dangerously high bilirubin levels). In this case, peripheral or central lines may be required and are placed in your baby to allow the removal and replacement of blood.

Partial exchange transfusion: Some babies may require “thinning” of their blood due to polycythemia – a potentially dangerous condition where the blood is too thick or hyperviscous.

In intubation is needed, we will place a special tube through the baby’s vocal cords into the trachea (windpipe). This is necessary when the baby cannot breathe adequately on his/her own and requires assistance in breathing.

A lumbar puncture is the insertion of a needle into your baby’s lower spine, between the back bones (vertebrae), to obtain a sample of the cerebral spinal fluid. This test will help determine if there is evidence of infection in the central nervous system. This procedure may also be performed if there is a need to decrease cerebral spinal fluid volume.

A PICC catheter is used to administer medications and provide fluid and nutrition to your baby. The catheter is inserted into a peripheral vein that is then threaded into a location in your baby’s chest or abdomen for infusions of medications and nutrition. Common insertion sites are the veins in the arms, armpits, feet, legs and scalp. Our nurses and medical staff are highly trained in placing these lines.

Sometimes it will be necessary to place a PAL, a catheter placed into a peripheral artery, in the wrist, back of the ankle or scalp. This catheter is used to monitor blood pressure and provides access to blood for testing of lung function, blood counts, kidney function and other lab tests without the need for repeated needle sticks.

If the baby is intubated, he/she will be placed on a special breathing machine. We offer many breathing machines that provide different methods of helping your baby breathe. This may include time-cycled/pressure-limited ventilation, volume ventilation or high-frequency (jet and oscillator) ventilation modes. We may also use neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA), where breaths are triggered by sensing the baby’s breathing effort.

If your baby is not intubated, he/she may still require a range of non-invasive respiratory support modalities, including non-invasive NAVA, bubble or ventilatory continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or high flow and low flow nasal cannula support.

Newborns who may suffer deprivation of oxygen or blood flow during delivery may have hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. These babies are at high risk for brain injury and possible long-term sequelae. Studies have shown that if these babies are treated within 72 hours of hypothermia, some of their damaged brain cells may be more likely to recover and have improved outcomes.

An emergent procedure where a needle or catheter is inserted into your baby’s chest to remove air from the chest in the case of lung collapse (pneumothorax) or fluid removal in the case of increased fluid around the lung (pleural effusion).

Umbilical artery catheter (UAC): Placement of a catheter into the artery that is in your baby’s umbilical cord. This catheter is used to monitor blood pressure and allow access to blood for testing of lung function, blood counts, kidney function and other lab tests without the need for repeated needle sticks.

Umbilical venous catheter (UVC): Placement of a catheter into the vein located in your baby’s umbilical cord. This catheter is used to administer medications and provide fluid and nutrition.

Both procedures are usually performed during the admission process.