WILMINGTON – Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children recently received its largest monetary gift for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) from the Michael & Nancy Pia Foundation. This generous gift will support the refurbishment of two twin rooms in Delaware’s only Level IV NICU, allowing twins and their parents to remain together at a time when families need each other the most.
Established in 2002, the Michael & Nancy Pia Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of children. The Pias are a family of fraternal twins. In Nancy’s family there have been 13 children from multiple births.
In addition to the two NICU twin rooms, this donation will help provide furniture upgrades and specialized equipment in the NICU space and a refresh of the family waiting room. The Pia’s gift will also purchase a Fermo Aviation Modular system for ECMO transport and establish a NICU Family Emergency Fund.
“Our family has witnessed the births of twins spanning two generations at three different hospitals in Delaware and Pennsylvania,” said Nancy McGovern Pia in a statement. “We’ve had flawless deliveries, a heartbreaking loss, a miraculous recovery, and birth challenges further complicated when the twins and their parents were separated in order to obtain the life-saving neonatal intensive care they needed.”
The Pias also have family connections with Nemours, which inspired them to help other families of twins. Nancy’s sister and two nieces work at Nemours as nurses and a research assistant. And two of the Pia’s children, five of their grandchildren and many of their nieces and nephews have received care at Nemours.
“Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) provide the best start in life for babies who are born too early or have medical problems,” says Mark Mumford, Chief of Delaware Valley Operations in a statement. “But there’s no denying it can be one of the most stressful and trying experiences a family will endure. This gift from the Pia Foundation allows Nemours to further enhance our NICU, providing families the comfort and support they so greatly need, while our clinical teams continue to provide the specialized, high quality care families know and expect.”
Each year, hundreds of infants come to Nemours duPont Hospital for Children’s Level IV NICU from hospitals in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to receive the highest level of comprehensive care for the most premature newborns.
