There’s nothing more precious than a life newly awoken, and for Dr. Christy Mumphrey, Service Line Chief for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), the work done at Manning Family Children’s is the fulfillment of a career-long devotion to protecting and healing those who cannot care for themselves. As part of the hospital’s newly renovated NICU expansion, a $34 million investment sure to change the lives of children today with the facilities and technologies of tomorrow, Dr. Mumphrey is part of a team meant to reverse Louisiana’s downward trends of infant hospitalizations.
“Whether I am caring for a tiny baby born too soon or a term baby that is ill, it is an incredible responsibility and honor to know that the care I provide impacts not just survival but also a patient’s long-term health,” says Dr. Mumphrey. “It is very rewarding to see a once sick baby go home with its parents.”
As neonatology has evolved over the generations and advanced through technological innovation, the care for newborns and babies has become even more complicated and specialized. Today, the physicians at Manning Family Children’s are able to treat babies born at younger gestational ages, smaller sizes, and with more complex medical needs than ever before. While hospital stays for sick infants can often be long, lasting as many as several months, Dr. Mumphrey and her colleagues are able to provide some certainty in the face of challenging times, with appropriate support, privacy, and expert-level medical facilities.
“Knowing that your baby is being cared for at a state-of-the-art NICU like Manning Family Children’s, where any medical or surgical care that your baby needs can and will be provided at the highest level gives reassurance to families during this very emotionally challenging time,” says Dr. Mumphrey.
Recently breaking ground on a transformational project for Louisiana’s babies, the new 60-bed NICU is expanding Manning Family Children’s capacity to not only care for infants but to increase space for more patients, families, and care professionals; thus ensuring that they can continue to say yes to babies from across Louisiana. For Dr. Mumphrey, who has been a part of the hospital’s NICU team since 2014, this level of investment is the least they can do, as caring for the littlest of us, at their most vulnerable, is a responsibility worthy of a lifelong devotion.
“Providing care at the very beginning of a child’s life is humbling, as there is no other time where the care provided can have such a major impact on survival and long-term health,” says Dr. Mumphrey. “Having the ability and responsibility to provide that life-saving care to the babies of Louisiana is one of the greatest gifts I have been given.
