USA. ARIZONA. Phoenix. Preemie Baby unit at St Joseph's Hospital. Working within minutes on the birth of a preemie baby. An endotracheal tube and umbilical catheter being inserted.
The smallest patients in the newborn intensive care nursery at St Joseph’s Hospital owe their lives – and their excellent prospects for living normally – to a statewide program that in its first six years, changed Arizona’s newborn mortality rate from the bottom to the top quartile nationwide.
David Hurn spent a year in the preemie ward at St Joseph’s. He observed how each baby was gradually transformed in the minds of its parents from a pathetic, wired-up creature to a loved child with a personality and a future. Hurn’s perceptions evolved in much the same way. At first he was appalled by the preemies and could not tell them apart; by the end of his stay he found the five- and six pounders in the regular nursery next door coarse by comparison. 'Anne Fadiman'. Life magazine. 1980.