On Tuesday, Yale New Haven Children's Hospital opened its new, two-floor neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the first academic hospital in the country to offer family-centered accommodations. The space is also expecting to add a specially designed MRI machine for premature newborns in the next year.  

According to an article by the Hartford Courant, the MRI machine was developed in Israel and approved in July 2017 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  

"Combined, the technology makes the NICU the most advanced in the United States," said Cynthia Sparer, senior vice president of operations at Yale New Haven Hospital and executive director of the children’s hospital and women’s services. “Our vision to create a bright, spacious, unprecedented intensive care unit across two floors is now a reality and serves as a national model for others."  

Additional features of the new NICU also include its own procedure room, a stimulation lab, breast milk management room to fortify milk with extra nutrients as needed, and couplet rooms where moms and babies in need of additional care can stay together in one room post-delivery.