Women's & Childrens Neonatal Intensive Care

SACMC was the first medical facility in our area to offer Level III-A neonatal intensive care services. We are the only local neonatal service providing coverage by a neonatologist and a neonatal nurse practioner 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Prior to initiating this service, most low weight/high risk infants born in San Angelo were transported to hospitals in Fort Worth and San Antonio for care. Now, almost all such cases can be treated effectively at Community's six-bed neonatal intensive care unit.†

SACMC puts special emphasis on the neonatal environment. Years of studies show premature babies have different needs and respond differently to stimulus than full-term newborns. As a result, Community provides its premature babies a far different environment than can be found in a nursery designed for full-term infants.

"We cannot exactly replicate the womb," Evelyn Ashley, R.N., says, "but neonatal intensive caregivers such as those at Community strive to make our care as womb-like as possible. This commitment is central to everything we do in neonatal intensive care today and sets us apart from other facilities."

All members of the SACMC's neonatal team are members of Pediatrix Medical Group of Texas, P.A. The Pediatrix Medical Group of Texas is part of the nation's largest provider of neonatal and maternal-fetal physician services. In addition to serving SACMC, Pediatrix Medical Group neonatalogists also serve Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio and Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth.

†SACMC's neonatal intensive care unit cares for babies weighing 2 lbs., 2 oz. or more who are born after 28 weeks gestation with no surgical or cardiac complications.