Because Covenant is one of the leading children’s hospitals in the region, it’s natural that it would have a top-of-the-line neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)—and it does. Covenant’s main campus in Lubbock features a 43-bed Level IV NICU, the highest designation given by the State of Texas.
But Covenant didn’t stop there. Because the hospital covers such a vast geographic area, including Lubbock, the Panhandle Plains, and Eastern New Mexico, staff and administrators want to be sure that every child and mother can receive the same top-quality care no matter where they live, even if it’s hours from Lubbock. So Covenant has essentially packed their Level IV NICU to-go by way of ambulance, helicopter, and airplane.
By ambulance or by plane, Covenant Children’s gets top-quality NICU care to the babies of West Texas & southeastern New Mexico
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“We serve the same population as any big city children’s hospital, but ours is spread out over miles and miles,” says Thomas Bowman, MD, neonatal specialist at Covenant. “We have specialized personnel and equipment who can pick up sick babies. Whenever the transport team shows up, the kid is basically in the NICU. The team has everything the hospital has, and is in constant contact with the NICU.”
For instance, a few weeks ago, the NICU got a call from an emergency room in Lamesa, Texas, about an hour south of Lubbock. A mother had shown up delivering a very premature baby. The small-town hospital in Lamesa didn’t have the equipment to handle the situation, so Covenant sent a chopper to fly mother and child to Lubbock.
“We saddled up our team and got down there,” says Bowman. “We essentially had a NICU on the helicopter, and it brought them back here. They were safe the entire time.”
"We have specialized personnel and equipment who can pick up sick babies. The team has everything the hospital has, and is in constant contact with the NICU.”
From the moment they were loaded onto the chopper to the second they were checked out of the hospital in Lubbock, mother and child received the top-quality care that makes Covenant’s a Level IV NICU. The hospital can provide care to patients with the highest acute care needs without having to transfer them to other facilities. The medical staff can provide surgical repair of complex congenital or acquired conditions and address a complete range of pediatric medical and surgical situations, along with pediatric anesthesia. Even bigger hospitals with NICUs don’t have pediatric-specific surgeons; Covenant does.
In addition to neonatologists and neonatal nurse practitioners trained and certified to care for the smallest and most vulnerable babies, the Covenant NICU team includes therapists, dieticians, lactation consultants, pharmacists, social workers, and chaplains.
On arrival in Lubbock, the Lamesa baby was found to have a perforated bowel that might have led to a life-threatening infection if not detected and treated by the proper NICU.
Covenant can also outsource its expertise to outlying communities when it’s too dangerous to move the patients. Even when they don’t send the baby to Covenant, the physicians can call and ask questions and talk through procedures and situations.
“We serve the whole region,” says Bowman. “There are babies all over the south plains that benefit from having a Level-IV NICU in Lubbock.”
Because Covenant is one of the leading children’s hospitals in the region, it’s natural that it would have a top-of-the-line neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)—and it does. Covenant’s main campus in Lubbock features a 43-bed Level IV NICU, the highest designation given by the State of Texas.
But Covenant didn’t stop there. Because the hospital covers such a vast geographic area, including Lubbock, the Panhandle Plains, and Eastern New Mexico, staff and administrators want to be sure that every child and mother can receive the same top-quality care no matter where they live, even if it’s hours from Lubbock. So Covenant has essentially packed their Level IV NICU to-go by way of ambulance, helicopter, and airplane.
“We serve the same population as any big city children’s hospital, but ours is spread out over miles and miles,” says Thomas Bowman, MD, neonatal specialist at Covenant. “We have specialized personnel and equipment who can pick up sick babies. Whenever the transport team shows up, the kid is basically in the NICU. The team has everything the hospital has, and is in constant contact with the NICU.”
