Stockman Bank to match $50,000 in donations for new Billings Clinic NICU
The Billings Clinic Foundation is pleased to announce a $50,000 challenge gift from Stockman Bank in support of Billings Clinic’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Stockman will match donations up to a total of $50,000.
Stockman Bank has a long tradition of serving its communities. This matching additional gift to the Billings Clinic Foundation will go toward the ongoing $3.5 million capital campaign for the construction of a new NICU at Billings Clinic.
“Making sure our region’s tiniest patients and their families get the care they need is incredibly important,” said Bill Coffee, CEO of Stockman Bank. “That’s why we’re providing this dollar-for-dollar match. It makes support from the community go twice as far, and that translates into helping families and patients even more.”
Funds raised through the campaign will help to build a new NICU at Billings Clinic in order to create a greatly improved patient and family experience, bring in natural lighting to promote healing, enhance patient and family privacy, create dedicated family space for overnight stays with a private restroom, outfit the NICU with updated technology and equipment, and build dedicated space for supplies and equipment.
The Billings Clinic NICU opened 22 years ago and since then technology and the delivery of care have changed dramatically. One of the biggest changes over the years has been the increasing integration of families into the care of their babies. There is evidence that parents are critically important to a baby’s wellbeing while in the NICU and when they are present, the outcomes are improved, costs are reduced, and there is greater parent and staff satisfaction. The infants cared for today are more unstable and critically ill than in years past. The smallest among them stay for an average of 90 to 100 days and 25 percent of the babies come to Billings Clinic through the transport of its highly trained MedFlight team.
The most common reasons babies are admitted to the NICU include premature birth, respiratory distress, hypoglycemia, and neonatal abstinence syndrome, which is when a baby is withdrawing from certain drugs they were exposed to in the womb prior to birth. The specially trained staff at Billings Clinic’s NICU, on-site 24 hours a day, includes four neonatologists, neonatal nurses, pediatric specialists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, pharmacist, lactation consultants, and respiratory therapists.
In its current configuration, care areas are stationed in open bays with curtains without internal walls and doors, which makes noise very difficult to control. Privacy during this challenging time for families is minimal, and there is no natural light given the NICU’s current location in the center of the Family Birth Center. Supplies and equipment are often stored away from the NICU, as there is not adequate storage space in the unit. This lack of space has the greatest impact on the parents, making it difficult comfortably stay with their sick child and requiring them to leave the unit to use the restroom or get a drink of water.
How to Donate
Stockman Bank will match donations, dollar for dollar, up to a total of $50,000 through July 31. Matching contributions can be made online, via mail or by phone. To have a gift matched, simply make a donation online at www.billingsclinicfoundation.com or call the Billings Clinic Foundation office (406) 657-4670. Gifts can also be mailed to Billings Clinic Foundation, 2917 Tenth Avenue North, Billings, MT 59101. Be sure to indicate your gift is for the NICU campaign.
About Stockman Bank
Stockman Bank is Montana’s largest, family-owned, community bank, with 36 full-service locations across the state. Founded in 1953, Stockman is uniquely focused on Montana, with comprehensive banking products and services, along with state-of-the-art online and mobile banking, wealth management and insurance services. To learn more, visit www.stockmanbank.com.
