World Premature Day in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic is a difficult time for premature babies and their parents, as well as doctors, neonatal nurses and midwives who fight for the health and life of the smallest of the youngest.
The Coalition Foundation for a Premature Child wants to lighten this sad time with a symbolic mural by one of the most famous Polish graphic artists, Andrzej Pągowski, whose work is located on the building at ul. Waryńskiego 3 at the Metro Politechnika in Warsaw. A premature baby is a baby who is born ahead of schedule, and his immature immune system requires special care, as viruses and bacteria can be deadly to him. Fortunately, the coronavirus is quite kind to the pediatric population, but from October to March, the RS virus is on the attack, which leads to severe inflammatory diseases of the lungs and bronchi. Neonatologists remind that state-funded prophylaxis is available and urge that children be given a full cycle of 5 doses at monthly intervals so that they do not go back to the hospital and separate from their mother again.
On the occasion of World Premature Baby’s Day, which is celebrated in Poland for the 10th time this year, we would like to thank the neonatal teams in a special way for their knowledge, heart, commitment, for everything they do for premature babies, we also want to thank brave parents, who, due to the coronavirus pandemic, survived the hard time of separation from their children in suffering and fear, says Elżbieta Brzozowska, vice president of the Coalition for Premature Foundation.
Graphics are a symbol of caring for the smallest of the youngest. These hands surrounding a premature baby are the hands of all those who save his health and life – Neonatologists, Nurses, Midwives and Parents. The work of Andrzej Pągowski in the form of a mural is located in Warsaw at the Politechnika Metro Station and can be viewed until the end of November on the building at ul. Waryńskiego 3. The RW group, which was touched upon by the problems of premature babies, provided a perfect location for the mural, renouncing profit.
In many countries, the pandemic has created the problem that mothers and parents cannot be present with their sick newborns in hospitals. EFCNI, the European Foundation for the Care of Newborns initiated the international Zero Separation campaign, which was joined by the Coalition for Premature Babies Foundation and the Polish Neonatology Society. In Poland, we operate under the slogan #ZeroSeparacji # MamaprzyWcześniaku.
We are heartily with every mom and dad who, due to the pandemic, could not be with their children. We know what stress, anxiety and suffering are. On the other hand, we realize how important it is to provide premature babies with professional medical care of doctors, nurses and midwives. The pandemic exposed the imperfections of the system, underfunding and, above all, the drastic shortages of medical and nursing staff in neonatology, and this influenced such dramatic decisions as were made by clinic heads or hospital directors, forced to close the wards to their parents.
Therefore, the organizational, long-term goal of neonatologists and health care decision makers should be to create a rooming-in system in neonatal intensive care units. It used to be unthinkable in maternity wards, today every mother has a full-time baby with her, 24 hours a day. For this to become possible in the organization of care for premature babies, systemic changes are needed to create a new hospital infrastructure, a completely different valuation of services and incentives for young doctors and nurses to choose a specialization in neonatology – says Prof. dr hab. n.med. Maria Katarzyna Borszewska-Kornacka, president of the Coalition for Premature Child Foundation.
The problem of separation of mothers and premature babies was also referred to by prof. dr hab. n. med. Ryszard Lauterbach, president of the Polish Neonatal Society, consultant in the field of neonatology of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, head of the Neonatology Clinical Department of the University Hospital in Krakow: Many years ago, we opened intensive care units for parents and encouraged them to touch, speak, read books and stay around the baby as often as possible. Being aware of the significant health benefits of both young patients and their parents resulting from such contact.
It is with deep regret that we closed neonatal intensive care units due to the coronavirus pandemic. After all, we remember very well the words of a well-known Krakow psychiatrist, professor Antoni Kępiński, who claimed in the XNUMXs that a small premature baby, although he did not recognize colors and sounds after birth, was most intensely aware of his mother’s mental state and its presence clearly influenced his emotions. .
There were several reasons for the decision to close, but all of them resulted from the pandemic. The threat was extremely real, and the exclusion of some of the staff due to quarantine would definitely limit the possibilities of medical care for newborns treated in the ward. Another problem, equally important, was the lack of an adequate amount of personal protective equipment that should be made available to parents visiting their babies.
I would like to assure you that the neonatal staff feel clearly discomfort and a sense of imperfection in caring for a premature baby resulting from the inability to contact a newborn child, but the sense of responsibility for the health and life of seriously ill children forced us to take such radical measures. We promise, however, that we will do our best to create, even to a small extent, conditions for parents to contact their babies, trying to reconcile safety with the tremendous emotions experienced by parents who are separated from their children.
Fortunately, in many hospitals the situation has already stabilized and mom visits are possible, but it is extremely important that only fully healthy people enter the neonatal intensive care unit, to comply with the sanitary regime, use masks, gloves, disinfectants and keep a distance. social.
What should we do when we have a premature baby at home? Take care of his health and immunity – strengthen the immune system (avoid contact with a large number of people in shops or other public places, absolute prohibition of exposing the child to tobacco smoke, airing rooms, walking, appropriate diet), prevent infectious diseases by breastfeeding for as long as possible , compliance with the timely implementation, not only of protective vaccinations, but also free of charge for premature babies born before the 33rd week of pregnancy, the prevention of RS virus infection, which leads to dangerous infections of the upper and lower respiratory tract, bronchitis and lung inflammations, respiratory failure, and even death of the child .
In Poland, the RSV season starts in October and lasts until March. This is the time when babies of the first year of life should be given ready-made antibodies that directly destroy the virus. Some parents give up immunoprophylaxis out of fear of coronavirus infection, wrongly! There are 67 centers in Poland where antibodies are administered. All points are properly prepared to administer antibodies to premature babies in safe conditions and with the application of a sanitary regime – assures prof. dr hab. n. med. Ewa Helwich, national consultant in the field of neonatology, head of the Department of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care, Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw.
Thanks to the Coalition Foundation for a Preterm Infant, parents receive safe visit packages, including gloves, masks and disinfectant, at all immunization points.
Let us remember that a premature baby is a small person with a heavy burden of traumatic experiences from the first moments of life, often with health problems that he or she has to deal with for many years. These people often require rehabilitation, many specialist visits, support from a speech therapist and psychologist, unfortunately access to these services is difficult, and the project of comprehensive coordinated care has still not been fully implemented, but only fragmentarily and does not apply to the entire group of very immature babies at birth.
On the occasion of the feast of premature babies, our thoughts focus not only on children born this year, but also on those who are several, several or several dozen years old today. We warmly smile at them, wish them health, and wish their parents, doctors and nurses a lot of patience in the difficult reality that surrounds us today.