Facility Oakland Medical Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Address Main Hospital Building 4th floor 280 W. MacArthur Blvd. Oakland CA 94611 Map & Directions View your preventive services

Thank you for visiting my home page. Here is my story. I grew up in the heartland in Omaha, Nebraska. I have always had an interest in health care; including provider/patient relations, health policy and ethics. After working for many years in the field of women’s health, I decided that my dream job would be working with families as a medical social worker. When I was nearly 50 years old, I returned to school and got a Masters Degree in Social Welfare at U.C. Berkeley. Since then, I have worked as a perinatal social worker, mostly in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit.

I began working with the Kaiser NICU Team in 1997. I have appreciated their clinical skill, their commitment to family-centered-care and their inclusion of all members of the team taking care of our babies and their families. I also love working with NICU families. Where else would I be able to get to know such a wide variety of people? Also, I find the resilience of babies and families to be inspiring and life-affirming.

I know that having a baby in the NICU can be one of the most frightening experiences for any parent. Although we can’t take away all of your fear and anxiety, we can help you understand your baby’s condition and give you as much information as possible about what to expect from your baby’s NICU stay. We provide both practical and emotional support and make sure that you know you are not alone in this experience.

SUGGESTIONS FOR COPING WITH YOUR BABY’S STAY IN THE NICU:

If you don’t understand your baby’s diagnosis or treatment plan, ask questions. Your doctors, nurses and other members of the team can explain things to you.

Spend as much time as you can with your baby. We encourage parents to visit, talk to their babies, touch them and hold them (if their condition permits). This is good for the baby and good for the parents.

Try to get as much rest as you can when you are not in the NICU. Allow family and friends to take care of you (cooking, cleaning, caring for other children).

Education:
Bachelor of Arts/Interdisciplinary Studies, John F. Kennedy University
Masters of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

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