Benefis Hospitals is the home to Montana’s most advanced Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Our NICU provides specialized care for premature and other special needs infants. Benefis NICU offers the most advanced technology, which means that your premature or sick newborn has a much better chance to survive and thrive.

Backed by state-of-the-art equipment, the highly experienced staff works as a team to provide expert care. Neonatologists work closely with Neonatal Nurse Practitioners, registered nurses and respiratory therapists, all of whom have specialized training to provide special attention to these extra-special infants. Nurses in NICU have not only years of experience in caring for special needs infants, but also years of experience on the same care-giving team.

Benefis employs the state’s only Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (NNP). A NNP is a registered nurse with clinical expertise in neonatal nursing, with advanced training in the management of ill newborns. When a critically ill newborn is admitted to the NICU, in addition to the Neonatologists and NNPs, the baby and their family will have available the expertise of:

• Registered Nurses and Registered Respiratory Therapists with extensive training in the care of small and sick infants.
• Speech Language Pathologists who assist with oral motor development and evaluation to facilitate feeding.
• Physical Therapists who provide motor skills evaluation.
• Clinical Social Workers and Nurse Case Managers who assure that family resource needs are identified early on so that discharge is successful.
• Chaplains who are available to provide spiritual support for the family.

After you and your baby get to go home, Benefis offers follow-up services through the High Risk Infant Screening Clinic to ensure that important developmental milestones are met appropriately. Comprehensive screening evaluations are performed by our entire NICU team, and if concerns are identified that infant’s family physician is notified and referrals to appropriate services are made in a timely manner.

If you have any questions about Benefis Hospitals or this website, please email us. We want to hear from you!