"Nobody wants a sick baby, but our hospital's NICU is incredible."
This is what local photographer, Meaghan Kent, tells all her clients. She speaks from personal experience: her little boy, Everett, was born premature, with breathing problems, sugar issues, and jaundice. But Sault Area Hospital was there for both of them every step of the way.
"Here come the Kents, again!"
Meaghan had a high-risk, complicated pregnancy from the start, with type-2 diabetes. She was in hospital nearly every week for check ups and care. The doctors and nurses knew her and her family by name. "We would walk in and hear, 'Here come the Kents, again!'"
Meaghan was only 36 weeks pregnant when her blood pressure spiked and she had to be admitted into the hospital. Her son, Everett, was born via C-Section on January 24, 2019. He was premature, but because of her diabetes he was a 9lb baby. He had breathing problems, sugar issues, jaundice. Meaghan, her husband Jason, and their family were in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) with Everett for weeks.
"No one is ever really ready to be a parent," Meaghan shared. "There’s no guide book, you’re just thrown into it. But the nurses in the NICU weaned us into being new parents. They taught us how to bathe our baby, feeding methods, burping techniques – all sorts of little things that I don’t know how we would have learned otherwise!"
"It was like we were their own children."
Part of what made the Kents' NICU experience so special was the people... Meaghan fondly remembers Carol - a nurse who would ride her bike to the hospital in the middle of winter, and play Disney music for all the babies in the NICU. "I’ll never forget the Disney music," Meaghan said with a smile.
After initially getting discharged, Everett had to be readmitted to SAH when his jaundice spiked. "When the nurses saw us walk in, they were devastated to see us back," said Meaghan. "It was like we were their own children. They took us in and comforted us, because we were so upset. There’s just no words to describe that care. They were so good."
Since his early days at SAH, Everett has grown into a happy, healthy almost-4-year-old now! His mom, Meaghan, still holds a special place in her heart for the NICU at Sault Area Hospital, and has been holding fundraisers for the department ever since her outstanding care experience there with Everett. She plans to continue to give - to make outstanding care experiences, like hers, possible for future parents and babies who need the NICU at Sault Area Hospital.
You make outstanding care possible.
Donations to SAH Foundation fund the medical equipment used every day at Sault Area Hospital.
Without local gifts from our generous community, we would not have had the surgical equipment that was used to deliver baby Everett by C-section, the monitors that helped us measure his progress, the light therapy equipment that treated his jaundice, or the incubator that kept him warm.
Give today and help to fund the future of outstanding care.
