Using technology to support premature and critically ill newborns in Calgary

In Canada, one in ten babies is born requiring assistance from a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In Southern Alberta, that statistic is one in eight. The Calgary Health Foundation supports four NICUs in the city of Calgary, including at the Foothills Medical Centre. The only in-born level three NICU in Southern Alberta, it has only 36 beds instead of the 60 needed to support the growing needs of premature and critically ill babies. The Foundation also helps ensure that Alberta’s prematurely born babies receive the care they need from the Foothills Medical Centre by supporting the Southern Alberta Neonatal Transport Service (SANTS).

A $20,000 grant from the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation supported the Calgary Health Foundation’s Newborns Need campaign. This campaign, in partnership with Alberta Health Services, funds world-class research, care, education and support for newborns and their families — primarily focusing on babies born prematurely and/or with health complications.

“Investments in our Newborns Need campaign and the Southern Alberta Neonatal Transport Service are great examples of the health care breakthroughs we are advancing, together, with incredible support from generous organizations like the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation,” says Mike Meldrum, President and CEO, Calgary Health Foundation.

The grant also helped the Calgary Health Foundation keep more patients connected through tablets or devices during COVID-19. And in rural parts of Alberta, it also helped improve patient care by enabling the Calgary Health Foundation to purchase digital scales that saved parents from having to make trips to the facility, enhancing virtual care delivery at home.

By helping the Calgary Health Foundation reach more families with babies requiring NICU support, the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation supports wellness through connectivity.