A river wasn’t enough to separate Angela Jeske and her daughter Alyssa shortly after Alyssa’s birth, thanks to teleconferencing technology at University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview.

Angela recently gave birth to her daughter by emergency C-section in University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview’s University campus emergency department. Due to Angela’s heart condition, she was immediately admitted to the Intensive Care Unit on the University campus.

Alyssa, born seven weeks early, was transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on the Riverside campus. So Angela could see her newborn daughter, Jason Albrecht, Child-Family Life specialist and Transitions and Life Choices pediatric coordinator, and Tim Johnson, RN, NICU, connected Angela and Alyssa via a mobile teleconferencing unit. Albrecht set up a video camera, microphone and monitor in Angela’s room, and Johnson installed similar equipment next to Alyssa’s incubator. The equipment allowed Angela to see her baby, and the staff and family in the NICU to see and talk to Angela.

“This was the third time we have connected two patients using teleconferencing,” says Albrecht. “It was amazing to witness Angela seeing her baby for the first time and exciting to be able to connect the two.”

“The teleconferencing was great. It was a relief to sit in my hospital room and watch Alyssa on the screen,” says Angela. “It made me more comfortable to be able to see her all the time.”

Because it’s been so successful, Child-Family Life Services hopes to expand this service and connect parents at home or work with their children in the hospital. Additional funding is needed to make this service available to patients in the future. For more information about the teleconferencing project, contact Albrecht, jalbrec1@fairview.org.