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Associated Press - December 22, 2009 5:24 PM ET
CHICAGO (AP) - A new partnership in Chicago offers support for parents with sick infants needing special hospital treatment.
The program joins Northwestern Memorial's Prentice Women's Hospital with the March of Dimes, and it's the first of its kind in Illinois.
It's called the NICU (NIHK-you) Family Support Program, short for neonatal intensive care unit. Each year, about one in 10 newborns is admitted to 1 of these units, and a recent March of Dimes report says that number is climbing.
The program aims to ease parents' anxiety as NICUs can often seem intimidating.
The program offers parent care kits that explain the NICU and how to prepare for discharge home. It also includes parent groups, educational presentations and discussions.
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