Nemours Children's Hospital in Wilmington, which houses the state's only level 1 pediatric trauma center, opened the doors to a new wing to provide advanced care for medically complex births.
Leaders for the hospital system, which offers families access to primary and specialty care in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, gathered for the ribbon cutting to its Institute for Maternal Fetal Health and Fetal Surgical Care Center on Tuesday.
When the new wing for patients on April 13, it will be Delaware’s first surgical Fetal Care Center – a medical unit that can diagnose and treat in-utero conditions.
Nemours Delaware Valley President Laura Kowal said the new wing will provide advanced prenatal imaging, fetal therapies, genetic evaluation, and complex neonatal care.
She said the expansion to Nemours, "is strengthening access to advanced Maternal Fetal Care...by ensuring that all families can receive the care that they need, world class care, close to home."
These centers are relatively rare. According to the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, the US had about 40 Fetal Surgical Care Centers in 2024.
The wing also includes a new Advanced Delivery Unit (ADU), Psychosocial Support Program, and NICU extension.
US Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester attended Nemours’ ribbon cutting for the facility. She said the state has worked hard to improve its infant mortality rate, but disparities still exist for Black mothers.
"So it is so important what we're going to do here," Rochester said. "...Families won't have to travel long distances when they get that news that they might have a complex pregnancy. Imagine just trying to care for yourself during a pregnancy and think about having to travel."
Delaware’s health department says infant mortality dropped from 9.3 deaths per 1,000 births in 2005 to 5.9 in 2021. But a large disparity of approximately 8 percentage points persisted for Delaware’s Black population.
Rochester added significant cuts to Medicaid loom. And more than 40 percent of Delaware’s births were financed through Medicaid in 2024.
