Philanthropy is often inspired by a significant event in a family’s life, and having your first child is one of the most life changing. Lisa Owsley and Bill Hyland shared their experience and their heartfelt gratitude for Chester County Hospital through their journey with their son, Theo, in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Chester County Hospital is renowned nationally for excellent maternity care. Approximately 10% of our hospital's newborns receive care in our NICU; some for only a few hours and others for as many days as needed. Our advanced Level III NICU -- the only certified Level III nursery in Chester County – is led by a team of neonatologists from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) on staff at Chester County Hospital and complemented by our highly-skilled neonatal nurses.
Lisa shared her family’s NICU story with us: "In October of 2021, when I was 28 weeks pregnant, I was admitted to the antepartum unit at Chester County Hospital and diagnosed with severe preeclampsia. Despite the doctors' best efforts to delay birth; I would be in the hospital for only one week before my baby made his grand entrance just after midnight on Halloween. I was a first time mother and petrified. The staff at the Chester County Hospital NICU treated me like family and our son like their own - from the nurse who bought my son his first teddy bear to the nurse who made him a Christmas tree for his room as he spent his first holidays in the hospital. For them I will be forever grateful."
"The empathy shown by the staff as they sat with me while I cried at his bedside has left an indelible mark on my family. My son, Theo, would end up spending 63 days in the NICU. By the time we returned home as a family, my husband and I knew we would focus our philanthropic efforts on the NICU. In addition to the financial contributions we have made to the NICU, we also volunteer with Project NICU, a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting families with children in the NICU and the medical professionals who care for them. We will never be able to thank Chester County Hospital enough for the extraordinary care they provided us during such a difficult time."
Having access to state-of-the-art technology and enhanced support services is particularly important when it comes to specialized neonatal intensive care. Chester County Hospital is extremely grateful to Lisa and Bill for their generosity and passion to make a difference for others. Their gifts to the NICU fund have helped support several vital advancements for our NICU patients and their families, including the new MilkTracker program that launched this November. MilkTracker, designed by clinicians, is the industry’s most comprehensive end-to-end feeding and milk inventory management solution. Patient safety and clinical efficiency are top priorities. This new program offers a streamlined system and further promotes our goal of family-centered care, allowing parents to be engaged in their child’s feeding plan.
Poster displayed at the Chester County Hospital NICU Reunion Event – October 2023