Leea Lynn Marie Fodge, 6 pounds, 8 ounces, arrived at 6:16 p.m. Monday, Jan. 4, 2010 – the first baby of 2010 to be born at Parkview LaGrange Hospital in the New Year. Having arrived several weeks early, Leea’s immature lungs were a cause for concern, prompting her transfer later that evening to Parkview North’s NICU in Fort Wayne. Prior to Leea’s transfer, attending physician Lisa Booth, MD, of LaGrange reassured the parents that everything else with her development looked just fine.
Parents, Elizabeth Stiles and Adam Fodge, stated Tuesday that they have learned from the NICU nurses that Leea is doing very well and is expected to be coming home later this week. “The nurses told me she likes hearing herself talk,” said Stiles, adding with a smile, “She gets that from her father.”
“They told us she is one of the happiest babies they’ve seen, smiling all the time,” said Fodge.
As Stiles prepared for discharge from Parkview LaGrange, she and Fodge received a gift basket, compliments of the hospital’s volunteers, that included a couple of new sleep sacks, a baby’s bathtub and a variety of other items to welcome Leea to the world.
Leea’s grandparents include Tammy Starrett of Shipshewana and Mike and Karen Kemp of Sturgis.
Parkview LaGrange Hospital is a not-for-profit community hospital and is licensed as a 25-bed critical access hospital to provide acute care services to the people of LaGrange County and surrounding communities. In July of 2008 Parkview LaGrange opened its new, $25 million hospital facility. In addition to the full range of general acute care services offered by Parkview LaGrange, an electronic intensive care unit (eICU) with its eICU robot – a hallmark of all Parkview Health hospitals – has brought another, higher level of care to the people of LaGrange County. Current services include EMS and emergency care; ambulatory and inpatient surgery; endoscopy; medical-surgical care, a swing bed program and maternity. Ancillary and outpatient services offered include a full service laboratory; advanced diagnostic imaging including CT and a fixed MRI unit; rehabilitation therapy; a sleep lab; and physician specialty clinics (including cardiology, gynecology and orthopaedics). Parkview LaGrange is a member of Parkview Health, a family of hospitals and healthcare services covering a 15 county region in northeastern Indiana and western Ohio. With over 190 employees, Parkview LaGrange Hospital's mission is to provide trusted quality care and to improve the health of the communities it serves.
In February 2008, Parkview opened the Women’s & Children’s Hospital on the Parkview North campus. One of the unique features of the hospital is a state-of-the-art newborn intensive care unit with all private rooms. The unit has 29 private rooms and 31 beds with sleeping quarters for parents. There is minimized light and sound stimuli resulting in a more nurturing, healing environment for newborns. Ample space is provided for family, enabling them to care for, bond with and stay overnight with their child. In addition, neonatologists are by the sides of newborns and their families 24 hours a day, seven days a week.