• Body Cooling
• Breastfeeding Services
• Smart Start

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center is committed to meeting the individual developmental needs of newborns within a safe and nurturing environment. We are dedicated to our patients and their families so that these infants can reach their fullest potential.  We pride ourselves in providing cutting edge and compassionate care, as well as in providing services not available at other similar facilities in the area.

General Services
Our NICU is one of only 23 units in California designated a Regional Level III facility, the highest designation given by California Children’s Services (CCS).  We earned that designation because we are equipped and trained to take care of the most complicated conditions in neonatology.  Our neonatologists and staff regularly treat premature and newborn infants for a wide range of conditions such as birth defects, birth apnea, birth asphyxia, jaundice, patent ductus arteriosus, congenital heart disease, and infectious diseases.  Our NICU specializes in treating hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy with body cooling therapy.

The NICU at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC) is the first facility in San Jose to provide body cooling therapy (therapeutic hypothermia) to newborns.  This new treatment, also known as therapeutic hypothermia, is pointed to for babies who have suffered from a lack of oxygen, which can cause brain damage. This condition is called Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), and is a common cause of severe neurodevelopmental disability. The state-of-the-art cooling equipment works by circulating cool water through a mattress, on which the baby is placed. The equipment then keeps the temperature between 33° and 34° C (91.4° - 93.2° F) for 72 hours.  Research shows that therapeutic hypothermia can lead to a 23 percent reduction in the number of newborns with HIE who develop permanent disability such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, blindness or who might die due to HIE. Click on the body cooling link to learn more.

We recently received a grant from Cardinal Health, allowing us to design and implement Smart Start, a program that will improve survival of very low birth weight infants without severe brain hemorrhage.  We were selected as one of the 40 medical centers for this program, from a pool of about 730 institutions. You can click on the link to read more about Smart Start.

Family-Friendly Focus and Family Centered Care
The NICU team understands the importance of family centered care and the difference it makes in the health of our patients. In a spirit of collaboration, we empower families by encouraging them to take on an active role in the care of their baby.

The March of Dimes has chosen the NICU at SCVMC to be its Northern California site for the NICU Family Support Program. This program involves extending its family-friendly focus by providing additional services and resources to meet the needs of relatives and family during the hospitalization, the transition home, and even in the difficult circumstances as a newborn death.

This program adds to the already existing network of parents with children in the NICU who can give emotional and practical support. We are able to tailor our programs to fit the specific needs of our patients and their families, such as for Spanish speaking families, or to focus on supporting brothers and sisters, and even the extended family in coping with the illness of their newest family member.

The program also recognizes that we are in the information age. There are plans of a Family Support Center kiosk that will be located in the NICU. The kiosk will help parents and families search the Internet to learn about medical issues or services they may need during their infant’s stay. Soon, bedside webcams will be available so parents can share updated photos of their infants with other family members. The NICU is also planning on hiring a part-time Family Support Coordinator to assist and advocate for NICU families by making the family’s needs known to the health care team and finding ways to meet those needs.

NICU Nanas Program
The NICU Nana Program provides volunteers to add to the services provided by the NICU staff.  Our Nana volunteers hold, nurture and cuddle newborns when the child’s parents are not available.  Nana volunteers are screened so we know they can take on these responsibilities and that they have the qualities that we are looking for in our volunteers:  warmth, caring, and compassion.