Pretoria - Parents of a newborn baby who cannot physically be with their little one who has to remain in hospital, can now digitally connect to their baby during times when they are apart.
In a first in the country, a secure digital visual diary service is helping parents of newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Netcare Blaauwberg Hospital in Cape Town, to see the progress of their baby without being physically there.
Dr Ricky Dippenaar, a neonatologist at the hospital, implemented the UK-based vCreate Diaries service at the facility to alleviate the emotional strain families often suffer when separated from their vulnerable little ones.
“The vCreate Diaries service has proven its value as a communications tool to help minimise separation anxiety for parents and support family- centred care,” he said.
There are many reasons why parents are not able to remain with their baby in the neonatal intensive care unit, such as other children or family members at home needing care, work commitments and financial constraints.
With this system, neonatal nursing staff are able to send parents images and video clips of their newborns, along with the updates that parents would normally receive in text or telephonically. The platform is secure and patient confidentiality is protected at all times.
The system’s secure video and photograph messaging technology is currently in use in over 80% of neonatal units in the UK and more than 130 units globally.
For the family of little Amilenathi Letheo, who was born at just 26 weeks and weighing 580g, the service was a lifeline as she spent the first 103 days of her life in the hospital.
During this time, Amilenathi was largely separated from her parents, as her mother was critically ill and her father, who works in Johannesburg, was unable to be there in person for the duration of this time.
“It was such a roller-coaster for our little family. vCreate gave us that extra support we needed, allowing us to witness Amilenathi’s development and to feel a part of it. The first time she opened her eyes, I got to see it in the pictures that were uploaded to vCreate. I would just sit and look at her while expressing milk for her and I would feel a deep sense of connection,” her mother, Phiweyo Mposula, said.
Liezel Cloete, a midwife by profession, hailed the technology, which she herself used with her baby Laken who was also born at 26 weeks. He spent 74 days in the hospital’s unit before being able to go home.
“Receiving those updates and pictures of her gave me a sense of reassurance – it was the next best thing to being there myself. It’s something that every parent should have access to when their little one has to stay in hospital.”
Nurse Kelly Delaney, who works in the unit, said that the nursing staff at the hospital had found that vCreate provided parents with a more tangible connection with their baby than receiving updates via phone calls or texts.
“The ability to share real time visuals with our moms and dads is powerful when it comes to creating a human connection,” she said.
Nicole George, the mother of baby Eden, who was born at 31 weeks weighing a little over 1kg, said that leaving the hospital without her child was a traumatic experience, but she had no choice.
She said the 41 days that Eden spent in the unit were terribly hard and she felt very torn as a mother, but being digitally connected to see her baby’s progress was a great help.
Pretoria News