Angel Eye Completes Installation of 10 Cameras in Connecticut Children’s NICUs
| LITTLE ROCK – Angel Eye Camera Systems, a company established in 2013 with support from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) BioVentures, recently completed the installation of 10 camera systems in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and plans to install another 10 cameras in the Connecticut Children’s NICU at University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington.
Using the Angel Eye camera system, parents can see and talk to their baby anytime, day or night, from their mobile phone or computer. Angel Eye represents not only the latest technology, but a total rethinking of how to provide patient- and family-centered care for parents and family members who are away from their babies in the NICU.
At 22 weeks and two pounds, Daniella Negron was born June 9 to Angela and Ernesto Negron of Columbia, Connecticut. Her parents immediately saw the benefit of Angel Eye while Daniella was in the NICU at Connecticut Children’s.
“It’s like peace of mind, especially for us because we live almost 40 minutes away,” said Ernesto Negron.
As long as the parents have provided them with the proper security credentials, other people can see the baby on their computers or cellphones anytime while the infant is in the NICU. An unlimited number of viewers can simultaneously access one camera.
“I think it’s going to be a great help for the family as a unit to stay involved with the baby and stay involved with each other during this time,” said Jim Moore, M.D., the Medical Center’s NICU medical director.
Moore said plans call to outfit all NICU beds with a camera, both in Hartford and at the Connecticut Children’s unit in Farmington.
In Massachusetts earlier this year, Angel Eye installed a total of 52 cameras in two hospitals, and will have a total of 88 cameras in hospitals throughout the state by this fall. Since its founding, the company’s systems have been introduced into neonatal intensive care units in Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas and Arkansas, including 26 at UAMS. Installations are also pending at NICUs in Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Angel Eye’s technology is an example of the nationally leading role played by UAMS ANGELS (Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System), a program that uses the latest communications technology to provide long-distance care to rural Arkansas parents and their newborns.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,890 students and 782 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com, or find us on Facebook.
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center is a nationally recognized, 187-bed not-for-profit children’s hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Named among the best in the nation in the annual U.S. News & World Report “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings, Connecticut Children’s is the only free-standing children’s hospital in Connecticut that offers comprehensive, world-class health care to children. Our pediatric services are available at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford and at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, with neonatal intensive care units at Hartford Hospital and the University of Connecticut Health Center, along with a state-of-the-art ambulatory surgery center, five specialty care centers and 11 other locations across the state. Connecticut Children’s has a medical staff of nearly 1,100 practicing in more than 30 specialties.
Angel Eye Camera Systems LLC was founded in 2013 with the support of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) BioVentures. Angel Eye designs, develops and delivers Internet-based camera systems that allow parents and family members to see and interact with their baby in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). When they are unable to visit their child in the hospital, family members can log into a secure account page using their computer or smart phone and view and speak to their baby in the NICU. Additional features include direct one-way audio, virtual rounding, educational videos, language translation and 24/7 technical support. Angel Eye is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, with offices in Nashville, Tennessee. For more information, visit www.angeleyecameras.com