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Health Matters: Providence Saint John's Health Center | 5 Monica Orozco Photography Familiar Face, Comforting Care When Heather Barry's newborn son needed care in the NICU, she was delighted to discover Dr. James Fritzell was there. W hen Heather Barry 's son Wyatt was delivered 13 weeks early via emergency cesarean section, she was relieved to see a friendly face by her side: neonatologist James Fritzell, MD. They had first reunited a few days earlier, when Barry 's water broke prematurely. "When Dr. Fritzell walked in to see Wyatt," recalls Barry, 42, "we were very happy." At the time, Wyatt weighed just 3 pounds, but the family was reassured by Dr. Fritzell's presence. Barry and her husband, David, who live in Brentwood, had last seen Dr. Fritzell in 2020 after the birth of her older son Wynn, who was born two weeks early via a planned C-section. Dr. Fritzell, who is also medical director of Providence Saint John's Health Center 's 16-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), had won the family 's confidence and gratitude after diagnosing Wynn — who weighed 6 pounds at the time — with a relatively rare condition. Baby Wynn had a congenital defect known as choanal atresia, in which one or both of the airways in the head are blocked by incompletely developed tissue or bone and the baby can't breathe normally. In Wynn's case, both passages were closed, a condition that required urgent surgery. In addition, he had a third, nonfunctioning nostril, a rare congenital defect. "Dr. Fritzell figured it all out," says Barry, "and he explained it to us." Wynn, who is now almost 3 years old, is enjoying preschool and playing with his two older brothers, Walker, 8, and West, 4. After corrective surgery, his extra nostril is barely noticeable. "It just looks like a little dimple," says his mom. "Choanal atresia is not very common," adds Dr. Fritzell, "but a supernumerary [extra] nostril—that's one in a million." OUTSIDE LOOKING IN Although baby Wyatt wasn't born with any unusual medical conditions like his brother had, he arrived very early and not ready to thrive in the world without medical assistance. "I tell patients, 'This is a unique opportunity to look at your womb from the outside,' " says Dr. Fritzell, because parents can witness their babies going through the remaining developmental stages in the NICU's incubator. Dr. Fritzell emphasizes to parents that it's important to remember that "we can't accelerate development," and from the baby 's point of view, the better choice would be the quiet, enveloping uterus. He says that in the NICU the team tries to mimic the environment of the womb. "We put babies in a resting fetal position and minimize the degree of stimulation." Barry is proud of how quickly Wyatt progressed. She visited him twice a day around feeding times. "He was only on a ventilator for a day and then CPAP [continuous positive airway pressure] for a week, and then room air," she says. Dr. Fritzell agrees that Wyatt did very well. "He needed some support," the doctor recalls, "but he did a good job with his development. He went home two to three weeks before his due date." LIKE A FAMILY Barry says the nurses in the NICU, which allows 24-hour access for parents, "were like our family." Wyatt's NICU stay stretched from April 28 to July 4, so on Mother's Day and Father's Day, the nurses made cards for Heather and David. Dr. Fritzell says the advantage of the unit's smaller size— there are about 12 patients at any given time—encourages close relationships between the families and the nursing staff. "Because we're a community hospital, the nurses really get to know the parents," says Dr. Fritzell. "They provide educational support to empower the parents and see the things that help the families and the babies thrive." Part of that support comes from speech and physical therapists who work with the babies on swallowing, a key response that premature babies usually lack. The Providence Saint John's NICU also has an in-house pediatric ophthalmologist to assess and treat eye problems often associated with premature births. Although Wynn's health scare and Wyatt's extended stay in the NICU were challenging, Barry says that overall she is very happy with the outcome and the care she received. "The nurses in the NICU were wonderful; the doctors were wonderful. I couldn't have had a better bad experience," she jokes. PROVIDENCE SAINT JOHN'S HONORED WITH BEST REGIONAL HOSPITAL DESIGNATION For 2022–2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked Providence Saint John's Health Center as one of the top regional hospitals in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Providence Saint John's was further recognized for superior care in more than a dozen specialty areas, including maternity care. To learn more about Providence Saint John's Women's Health and Wellness Institute, visit providence.org/ saintjohns or call 833-3FOR-HER (336-7437). 2022-2023

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