NICU, pediatric ICU returns to Golisano after Ian

The babies are back.

Dozens of children are at Golisano Children’s Hospital after they were evacuated when the storm knocked out water pressure in the hospital.

The babies were sent to medical facilities across the state while Lee Health got back on its feet.

Within 36 hours, Golisano Children’s Hospital evacuated its entire NICU and pediatric ICU, sending its tiniest and most vulnerable patients to hospitals across the state.

Now, they’re coming home.

No parent in the world could be prepared for their baby getting airlifted to safety.

That’s what happened to Tiffany and Kyle Henning. Their twin babies were airlifted to safety after Hurricane Ian.

The twins, Paxton and Camden, are just six weeks old.

“You trust, literally, everyone here with your whole life with the babies. And so moving them and not knowing what to expect at the other hospital was really scary,” the parents said.

Niki Shimko oversaw the special delivery for Lee Health.

“We ended up moving total of 80 patients, 61 of them were in the NICU and we had some that were less than a pound, many of them still needed the isolettes to keep them warm,” said Shimko, the manager of the transport team at Golisano Children’s Hospital. 

The hospital only one helipad so transport teams had to improvise.

“They found three extra landing zones. They took a bulldozer, cleared out some trees and made four landing zones for helicopters. We had over 70 helicopters come in and fly and land that day. We moved all 80 patients within 36 hours,” Shimko said.

The Henning twins went to Orlando as part of the massive operation stork. NICUs around the state took in babies until this week when it was safe for them to return to their home hospital.

Tiffany was in Orlando to see them off then drove back to Fort Myers to meet them.

“From the time that one baby had left the hospital and then the same team came back to get the second baby. And then I saw him take off on the helicopter. It was like I was driving the whole way and it was just like I can finally breathe again,” Tiffany said

When the family reunited on Tuesday night, it was a truly memorable experience.

The newborns have been in incubators since birth so it was the first time dad ever held both boys.

“I have held both now and we have a family photo together,” Kyle said. “Our first one, so that’s exciting.”

The baby homecoming is in its last stages.

The rest of them will be home by Friday.