Welcome to our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Saint Joseph's Children's Hospital, in Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Saint Joseph’s Children’s Hospital is one of only three Children’s Hospitals in Wisconsin. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Saint Joseph’s Children’s Hospital is designated as a Level IIIB unit, the only one in north central Wisconsin. By definition from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Level IIIB NICUs care for those with extreme prematurity (28 week gestation or less) or extremely low birth weight (1000 grams or less). Level IIIB NICUs also care for infants with severe and/or complex illnesses and those with the most specialized needs.

We have been providing state-of-the-art care since 1969, when our NICU was established, led by James Opitz, MD, Marshfield Clinic neonatologist. Thousands of infants have been cared for since that time.

Today, we have five Marshfield Clinic neonatologists (physicians specializing in caring for premature and very sick infants) staffing our 24-bed NICU. Together with our NICU nurses (who have more than 1,000 years combined NICU experience), this team cares for an average of 375 to more than 400 infants each year. Many of these infants are born at Saint Joseph’s Hospital, while others are brought here by Spirit Medical Transportation Services. A specially trained transport team (consisting of a NICU transport nurse, a respiratory therapist and emergency medical personnel) takes care of the sick infants.

Our NICU offers the full range of pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists, highly-skilled nursing and respiratory care staff, advanced respiratory support and physiologic monitoring equipment, laboratory and imaging facilities, nutrition and pharmacy support with pediatric expertise, social services, and spiritual services. Additionally, our NICU has access to 24-hour comprehensive services provided by the Hospital, Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield Laboratories, and the Marshfield Medical Research Foundation. The availability of these specialized services help the NICU staff give very timely, individualized care based on the needs of the baby and family.

The physicians and nurses in our NICU keep in close contact with hometown physicians, both during and after the baby’s stay. NICU staff make daily contact with the parents to provide updates. NICU’s phone number is (715) 387-7083.