Baby Arlo’s journey into the world hasn’t been easy. Diagnosed with a rare congenital diaphragmatic hernia, he underwent surgery at just four days old and has been receiving intensive care ever since.
Jacki Nicholson, Arlo’s first-time mother, recounts the challenges they faced: “There was a hole in the diaphragm itself, and all the organs [stomach, spleen, and bowel] had actually come up into the chest cavity. He’s currently functioning on one and a little bit of lung, basically, on the left-hand side.”
The Nicholson family has been stationed at Townsville University Hospital for the past month, far from their home and support network in Emerald, central Queensland. However, a recent addition to Arlo’s cot has brought them immense relief – a camera that enables them to access a 24-hour livestream of their baby.
Reflecting on its significance, Ms. Nicholson shares, “I don’t know how I would have really been able to cope without it in the early stages when you just didn’t know what things were going to be thrown at us. Photos are one thing, but just to be able to livestream whenever you want and see him in the flesh is something different.”
For Arlo’s father, Adam Wilson, who works in the mines and is often away, the camera has been invaluable. “I was on night shift this week [and] had smoko at 2 o’clock in the morning, and it was pretty handy to just jump on and have a quick squiz at him, see what he’s up to,” Mr. Wilson said.
The brainchild behind this innovative approach is Dr. Yoga Kandasamy, a neonatologist at Townsville. Dr. Kandasamy shares, “[The idea] actually came from a family whose baby stayed in the unit for about six months … and they were using cameras to see their baby when Dad had to work elsewhere.”
Following a successful trial in 2018, the technology was officially integrated into the neonatal intensive care unit, making Townsville the first public hospital in Queensland to adopt this model of care.
As the sole tertiary perinatal center in northern Australia, Townsville’s unit attends to over 800 sick and preterm babies annually, with approximately 40% coming from rural and remote areas.
Simone Scully, a clinical nurse at the unit, notes the widespread usage of the cameras among families. “We’ve got families that are here for months at a time. [Parents] feel so much more comfortable leaving knowing they can log in and look at their baby when they’re at the grocery store, when they’re at school pick-up.”
Dr. Kandasamy and Ms. Scully are hopeful that this initiative will expand to other hospitals, benefiting more families. Ms. Scully shares a touching anecdote, “One mum said that they log in and they read a bedtime story with their other children while watching baby on the camera. It’s little things like that that wouldn’t have been possible before.”
