www.umchealthsystem.com\/giving\/give-now\/.<\/a> <\/p>\nNICU transport equipment<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s donations will support the transport team of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The transport team uses one incubator designated for air transports and one incubator for ground transports. The new system can do both but the cost of one is $303,665.<\/p>\n
Last year alone, the NICU transport team conducted 107 transfers, the closest being in Brownfield and the farthest in the Big Bend region.<\/p>\n
Dr. Melissa Piepkorn, director of the NICU, said, \u201cOur goal when we go pick up a baby from another hospital is to take the ICU to them. So everything that we do here in Lubbock at UMC, we want to be able to do on the road and in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Brian Payne, chief medical officer of UMC Children\u2019s Hospital, said, \u201cThe equipment lasts about 10 years, and this equipment is hitting its end of life from this last time. We had CMN help us previously with this project years ago. And it\u2019s time again for us to emphasize this project and help it succeed. The technology is also improved now with the different pieces and components that can go with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piepkorn said, \u201cThere\u2019s always new advancements. And so we are needing to purchase some new transport isolettes and transport equipment that go on the isolettes. And those are hundreds of thousands of dollars. So very, very costly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Payne said, \u201cEvery day we\u2019re having patients transferred in here because we provide that care that no one else can. There\u2019s a lot of services that no other hospital in this whole panhandle of Texas and Eastern New Mexico and parts of Oklahoma that are on this side of it that we provide. We really do provide specialty care that without us and the support and the equipment we have and received from CMN, we couldn\u2019t be providing what we have now. Whether they\u2019re the NICU baby or one of our trauma patients, time is critical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recent additions<\/p>\n
The consolidated UMC Children\u2019s Hospital in the East Tower was ceremonially opened in August 2025, alongside the new Panda Pediatric Playground. Both were supported by Children\u2019s Miracle Network and funded through past CMN Broadcast donations.<\/p>\n
Right now, there\u2019s an ongoing renovation of the NICU, intended to make the NICU match the rest of the new UMC Children\u2019s Hospital. It\u2019s also designed to give families more privacy and a quieter space for babies, using special flooring and surfaces.<\/p>\n
About UMC Children\u2019s Hospital<\/p>\n
UMC Children\u2019s Hospital has served children in the region since 1978 and was the first pediatric hospital in the region. Along with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, it provides care from research-based experts.<\/p>\n
UMC is the only hospital in the region verified as both a Level 1 Trauma Center and a Pediatric Level 2 Trauma Center. It has a Level 4 NICU and a Level 4 Maternal Care Facility, the highest levels available for each. UMC is certified Baby-Friendly by Baby-Friendly USA, Inc.<\/p>\n
UMC houses the Timothy J. Harnar Regional Burn Center, the region\u2019s only pediatric burn center within 400 miles. UMC Children\u2019s Hospital is home to Sable, the first and only facility dog at any children\u2019s hospital in West Texas.<\/p>\n
UMC Children\u2019s Emergency Center provides more resuscitation and trauma rooms for children than any other in West Texas. The Children\u2019s Behavioral Health Clinic, sponsored by UMC Children\u2019s Hospital and Texas Tech University, supports recovery from general mental health concerns and traumatic events.<\/p>\n
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