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The Christus Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler Neonatal Intensive Care Unit has been accredited as a Level III NICU by the Texas Department of State Health Services, Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System announced.

The hospital’s NICU is the first NICU in the Northeast Texas region to receive this three-year designation, which serves an official recognition of the facility’s commitment to meeting the requirements of national and state standards for Level III neonatal ICUs.

“We are very proud to be the first Level III NIC to receive our official designation from the state of Texas,” Dr. Brenda Morris NICU medical director, said. “This should be reassuring to families whose babies require care in our NICU. We are meeting national and state regulations and providing state-of-the-art care.”

The hospital provides 24-hour in-house neonatal nurse practitioner or neonatologist coverage, maintains the equipment and resources necessary to care for infants born at all gestations, is capable of prolonged ventilator use and has a specialized NICU transport team, linking them to other hospitals around the region.

The NICU team is composed of specialized clinicians, nurses and physicians working together to provide the highest level of care for patients, according to information from the health system. The team includes neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, certified lactation consultants, neonatal dieticians, a pediatric pharmacist, child life specialists, social workers, chaplains and other specialists creating a continuum of care for ill newborns.

“We’re very proud of our NICU team who have been working hard to make sure our NICU meets the highest standards in the state of Texas,” said Jason Proctor, the hospital’s chief operating officer. “This designation acknowledges that the hospital has all of the available resources and is committed to providing highly specialized care for newborns and their families.”