Taking Care of Life’s Most Precious Miracles

Left: Patient Care Coordinator, Loa Wilson, keeps a watchful eye on Burnaby Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in order to provide a smooth experience for parents and infant patients.

Everyday, Loa Wilson walks to Burnaby Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and runs through her daily routine of troubleshooting the issues and oddities that lie in the background of caring for babies. But her days as a Patient Care Coordinator and Educator at NICU are anything but typical.

Whether it’s managing a group of dedicated staff; teleconferencing with NICUs across the province; or coordinating infant hearing tests, eye screens, immunizations, ventilators and equipment issues, Loa runs a tight ship at NICU in order to make that process as smooth as possible.

“The typical is not really typical,” Loa begins. “Premature babies have unique needs. They need nourishment, human contact, and they have to grow.”

The ones that come to our unit are really described as ‘near-term’. You see, the patients who visit Burnaby Hospital’s NICU are premature babies who are mostly delivered at ‘near-term’ or at 33 to 37 weeks. It’s a highly rewarding and highly demanding job. And with over 30 years in neonatal, Loa continues to be passionate about her work.

Having been at Burnaby Hospital for the past three years, Loa says she loves the surprises. “You never know what the needs are going to be of the day. I take pride in screening these infants that are at risk for different things, and making sure they don’t fall between the cracks.”

Having worked in various hospitals, Loa tells me there’s something special about Burnaby Hospital. “It’s the community spirit. It’s the fact that you can go down the hallway and greet people from dietary, biomed, and any other department, and you know their names, and they say good morning. It’s that human touch – the community spirit of the hospital.”