U.S. Naval Hospital (USNH) Guam is expanding medical care for newborns and children with several new programs that aim to improve the health of their youngest patients, reduce medical evacuations, and enhance medical readiness across the Indo-Pacific.
The expanded services will include home light therapy to treat jaundice in newborns, improved access to specialized nutrition for premature babies, and cooling treatment to protect the brains of newborns who experience complications at birth.
These initiatives support the Defense Health Agency’s goals of delivering safe, high-quality care and delivering the healthcare experience USNH Guam’s beneficiaries deserve.
USNH Guam has introduced a home phototherapy program, using a device called the “Bili Blanket.” This allows babies diagnosed with jaundice, a common condition that causes yellowing of the skin, to receive blue-wavelength light therapy in a monitored home setting.
Previously, babies who needed this treatment had to stay in the hospital. Now, providers can safely care for them as outpatients, reducing the need for hospital admission and repeated laboratory testing, while keeping families together during their newborn’s crucial first weeks of life. Devices will be issues to TRICARE-eligible beneficiaries for short-term use, while pediatric providers closely monitor the infant’s progress.
“The use of outpatient phototherapy for jaundice has been the standard of care at many stateside newborn clinics,” said Lt. Cmdr. Henry Keenan, department head of pediatrics at USNH Guam. “Through a concerted effort between multiple military treatment facilities, the pediatrics team here at USNH Guam creates an evidence-based practice and purchased this equipment to align our newborn care with care provided in more resource rich locations.”
Additionally, USNH Guam is coordinating with Defense Logistics Agency to bring in specialty formulas for premature babies who may have growth or nutritional challenges.
These formulas provide increased calories and minerals that are crucial for early development. Having the formulas readily available on the island closes a previous supply gap for military families and ensures infants get the nutrition they need without delay.
USNH Guam is preparing to introduce a therapeutic hypothermia (cooling) treatment for babies who experience a lack of oxygen at birth. The cooling therapy lowers the baby’s body temperature to help protect their brain from long-term injury and is the standard of care for this condition.
Once launched, this treatment will be available for military families at USNH Guam, meaning fewer aeromedical evacuations to the continental U.S. for newborns requiring this advanced treatment.
“The delivery of safe, high-quality healthcare to military children is indispensable for readiness,” said Capt. James Demitrack, USNH Guam director and commanding officer of U.S. Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Guam. “I am very proud of our staff for implementing these improvements, which support the deployability of warfighters by strengthening the health and well-being of their families.”
By treating more complex cases on the island, USNH Guam is building medical self-sufficiency in a key region for U.S. forces and ensuring military families throughout the Indo-Pacific receive world-class care where they serve.
U.S. Naval Hospital Guam is a 282,000 square foot military treatment facility (MTF) that supports the joint forces and strengthens the island by projecting forward-deployed medical power, delivering high-quality care, and forging strategic partnerships. The MTF and its staff of nearly 700 offers a broad range of primary and specialty medical services in support of more than 27,000 beneficiaries.