Rocky Start Foundation at Work

Your Donations are Empty
Click to Donate Now

Making Tiny Lives a Priority!

The Foundation at Work

Infant Warmer
$13,000

Provides supplementary heat to critically ill infants, unable to maintain their own body temperature. Unable to do this on their own, the warmer maintains a sufficient thermal environment, vital to their survival.

Live Auction Donors

Mark Schechter Family
2006	Smart Syringe Pump Co-Sponsor

Cheryll & Richard Ruszat
2007	Smart Syringe Pump
2005	Infant Warmer Co-Sponsor

Our Programs - The Foundation at Work

Rocky Start -
Working to Ensure Cutting-Edge Care for Future Generations

Funds raised through Rocky Start are used strictly to provide for the growing needs of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Team.

With ever-improving health care and technology more - and smaller - babies are being helped each year. But the cost of that care and equipment is extremely expensive. One of the goals of the Rocky Start Foundation is to raise $1 million to purchase all of the equipment that is on the NICU Wish List. There is much work still to be done!

Each year the special equipment purchased through the generous sponsors of the annual Rocky Start Live Auction is distinguished by the hospital with a special plaque on the equipment itself. These plaques have become beacons to some NICU parents, in their moments of doubt and helplessness. Having walked in the same NICU shoes, each call or email we receive is critical; each answer we provide serves to reassure them that they are not alone, and that indeed there is a way to help and to "make a difference".

Each year sponsors who participate in our annual "Fund-a-Cure"-style Live Auction, at our annual Rocky Start golf tournament and dinner, are recognized in appreciation of this extraordinary generosity. Each sponsor is invited to the Rocky Start Annual Sponsorship Luncheon and Tour of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where they meet the doctors and nurses, see their donation hard at work and are introduced to the tiny patients whose lives they directly impact through Rocky Start.

Thank you for making the Rocky Start Foundation a part of your charitable contributions and together, we are making a difference.

Lactation Room Remodel $1,500 Refreshed area that supports the mothers whose infants need mother's milk; mothers who need to express milk in the NICU. It serves all of the NICU families whose newborns are there for a few days or a relentless stretch of months on end.		Bili-Blankets (3) $10,500 Lightweight fiberoptic pad that delivers therapeutic light for the treatment of jaundice in newborns, due to an excess of red blood cells, rendering their immature livers unable to process and eliminate at an equal rate.

Blanketrol III $7,500 Highly specialized hypothermia machine facilitates break-through therapy to treat brain-injured newborns. Starting treatment within 6 hours of birth already shows an improved outcome for the babies who survive the loss of oxygen during the birth process.		Critical Care Cribs (2) $7,000 Intermediate Crib for babies that outgrow the incubators, but are still too sick to move out of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Giraffe Omnibeds (2) $74,000 Leading-edge isolette with integrated x-ray, in-bed scale, 360 degree access to patient, which enables virtually all surgeries to be performed bedside - eliminating the risks of moving high-risk infants to the operating room.		Hearing Screener $16,750 Complete screen of the hearing pathway in one step to determine the risk of auditory deficiencies - with a fully automated, objective result that requires no interpretation, ensuring the highest level of accuracy.

In-Bed Scales (3) $15,000 Provides a constant measure and weight of everything that goes in and comes out of the baby. Even the smallest change in their weight could signal something critical such as dehydration or other problems.		Infant Warmer $13,000 Provides supplementary heat to critically ill infants, unable to maintain their own body temperature. Unable to do this on their own, the warmer maintains a sufficient thermal environment, vital to their survival.

NICU Tracer System $21,000 Barcode System for stored breastmilk that eliminates critical incidents. Often enable to nurse, premature babies must use stored breastmilk, which carries the same risks as any body fluid and the benefits of medication.		Phototherapeutic Heat Lamps (7) $15,500 Phototherapeutic light to help critically ill babies maintain their body temperature and also used in the treatment of jaundice in newborns.

Portable Analyzers (2) $14,000 Portable clinical blood and fluid analyzers ensure that NICU teams, routinely called to transport newborns in critical condition from hospitals unequipped to care for them, will now use these to diagnose and begin immediate treatment enroute.		Ret-Cam II $81,000 Digital retinal imaging system is a non-invasive measure of oxygen in the eye to identify tumors, determine the risk of blindness and vision complications due to premature births.

Smart Syringes (34) $101,500 Pump systems ensure exacting medication dosage and delivery through fragile, newborn veins. The "intelligent" pressure monitoring detects and helps decrease any medication build-up.		State-of-the-Art NICU $160,000 Rocky Start Foundation funds infrastructure and equipment for the state-of-the-art NICU in the new UC Irvine Medical Center, scheduled to open in early 2009.

Transcutaneous Bilirubinometer $4,000 Using light instead of a needle, BiliChek allows you to test bilirubin levels without needing a blood sample. Only the replaceable plastic tip touches the baby's head, reducing the risk of infection and waiting for blood chemistry results.