Comanche County Memorial Hospital Foundation is gearing up for their 16th annual starlight event this month, and this year The Foundation has the opportunity to auction two Blake Shelton concert tickets in Oklahoma City with a night stay at the Skirvin.
CCMH is the only level 2 NICU in southwest Oklahoma. It provides care to babies born at or more than 32 weeks gestation and weighing more than 3 pounds 4 ounces.
CCMH director of Women and children services, Paula Griffith, says thanks to the CCMH Foundation and community donations over the years they’ve been able to not only care for the community, but also make sure medical devices are up to date for their smallest patients.
“We are very lucky to have the CCMH foundation and starlight foundation that helps us and keeps us growing as a facility. especially in our mom baby unit, and children’s unit” said Paula Griffith.
Donations have been able to get the unit the latest resuscitation equipment, hire two new pediatric hospitalists, and give upgrades to the facility.
“We’ve recently hired two pediatric hospitalists where all they do is take care of the babies at the hospital so you never have to worry about waiting for someone specializing in pediatrics to see them. We’ve also converted our newborn nursery to a NICU. The foundation was adamant about that. So, we have a NICU that can treat babies 32 weeks and up and so that saves so much for families who previously had to go out of town to receive treatment for their babies,” said the director.
Paula added everyday parents tell her team how proud they are of the hospital and how important it is to have a facility like this locally.
Outside of treatment for babies there’s other benefits that have allowed her team to grow.
“Because of the foundation and a lot of the things they’ve done, they’re helping with education for our nurses, and we’re implementing a new child birth education program that’s free to our community. Also we’re offering nitrous oxide to our moms in labor,” said Paula
Amongst all the wonderful things happening at Starlight, they have also been named for the second year in a row a “high-performing attorney care hospital” by the U.S. news and World Report.
Paula says with the upcoming starlight event and current online Blake Shelton Auction going on, the donations will be able to help remodel the Mom/Baby unit that’s been around since 1995, as well as purchase sleep services for parents and new technology.
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