Opinion Editorial: Advancing Family-Centered Care Through AngelEye Health

by Carolyn TenEyck, RN, Senior Director, Patient and Family Advocacy, AngelEye Health

Prematurity and time spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are among the most challenging experiences for families. Innovations like AngelEye Health’s Camera Systems, MilkTracker, and NICU2Home discharge planning platforms provide a lifeline to parents, offering real-time visibility, connection, and continuity to their hospitalized newborns. However, moving forward, we must elevate these tools beyond a “nice-to-have,” to ensure they become integral to family-centered care nationwide. Here’s how AngelEye Health, with help from the leading NICU parent, provider, and policy groups, can lead the way: 

  1. Collaboration on Advocacy, Legislation and Public Policy: Champion legislation and advocacy efforts prioritizing equitable access to NICU technologies and comprehensive discharge planning. By partnering with organizations and policymakers, we can create systemic solutions that benefit families across all states, ensuring no NICU is left behind.
  2. Parent-Led Initiatives: Parents are the heart of the NICU experience. Establishing parent organization leaders as advisors ensures families have a voice in shaping solutions. Their lived experiences can drive meaningful improvements in NICU care.
  3. Explore Expanded Access to Military Families: Military families continually face unique challenges, especially when their infant is in the NICU, including relocation and separation. Advancing access to AngelEye’s systems and platforms for those deployed across the globe will provide essential connections for parents serving our country, regardless of location.
  4. Funding Solutions: Moving Beyond a “Nice-to-Have”: In order to bring cameras and other AngelEye Solutions to NICUs nationwide, we must uncover innovative funding opportunities. By collaborating with private partners, and philanthropic organizations, we can position NICU camera systems as a standard of care, not a luxury.
  5. Raising Awareness: AngelEye, a Nashville-based company, has an opportunity to collaborate with the local March of Dimes to spotlight the challenges of prematurity. By sharing stories of families and NICU teams, we can advocate for policies that support better outcomes for fragile premature infants and greater access to innovative technologies.
  6. Empowering Families: Resources and Peer Support: Families need comprehensive resources, trauma-informed education, and mental health support to navigate their NICU journeys. AngelEye can serve as a bridge between their website and Solutions, pointing parents to peer support groups and trusted educational materials that foster resilience.
  7. Share Support Information for Bereaved Families: NICU journeys do not always end as hoped. Bereaved families need resources that honor their loss and provide ongoing support. AngelEye can provide connections to ensure these families are never alone in their grief.
  8. NICU2Home Education, Navigating the NICU and Discharge Coordination: AngelEye’s NICU2Home platform is an invaluable tool based on ten years of research by Dr. Craig Garfield, MD, and the National Perinatal Association’s (NPA) Interdisciplinary Discharge Planning Guidelines. Through alignment with this research and the guidelines, NICU2Home helps prepare families confidently for their fragile infant’s discharge, starting on the first day of admission. Educating NICUs and nursing organizations about the benefits can increase adoption. 
  9. Comprehensive Navigator Maps for State and Local Support Navigating the healthcare system can be overwhelming. AngelEye can post a comprehensive navigator map, empowering parents to access state and local organizations that provide resources tailored to their needs.

AngelEye Health has the tools, partnerships, and vision to transform NICU care and family support nationwide. Expanding access, advancing advocacy, and empowering families can create a future where every NICU journey is met with connection, compassion, and comprehensive care.

Note: These priorities and insights, shared by NICU Parent Leaders during AngelEye Health’s Advocacy Open House in October 2024, emphasize the transformative potential of AngelEye’s tools. By expanding access, advancing advocacy, and empowering families, AngelEye can create a future where every NICU journey is met with connection, compassion, and comprehensive care. Together, we can redefine what family-centered care means, ensuring no parent or infant feels alone on their NICU journey.