When family members of a sick newborn step off the elevator at Virginia Commonwealth University's new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, they're greeted by a volunteer stationed in a hotel-like lounge complete with piano, kitchen and children's playroom.

RNC Jamie Burton silences a monitor during care.

Atop the piano and on windowsills sit photos of success stories: children who pulled through their NICU stays to play soccer and ski. The coffee tables are scattered with scrapbooks made by other NICU graduates and their parents.

NICU Nurse Manager Sharon Cone calls the photo collection the "hall of fame." Parents heard about the new NICU and sent these pictures to give new parents of NICU babies a message of comfort and hope.

In mid-October, NICU patients were moved to the new facility, which is part of the university's new $184-million Critical Care Hospital. The new NICU is a different world, Cone explained. In the original NICU, patients were all in one large room, stationed close together.

Children's play area.

Lounge area with piano and photos of success stories: children who pulled through their NICU stays to play soccer and ski.

Secure refrigerator for breast milk storage can be found in each of the patients rooms.

The new NICU has 32 single-family rooms and four double rooms for twins. The rooms are 210 square feet each giving nurses about four times the working space they had in the old facility, Cone said.

Every feature in the new NICU is designed to minimize noise, from the special rubber tile floors to the acoustical ceiling tiles. Plus, separating babies means they get much-needed rest because they aren't disturbed by light and noise. Babies born under 32 weeks' gestation are placed in rooms that can be completely darkened.

Cone said NICU nurses were astounded by the new NICU and how quiet it is. Some staff were a little nervous at first because they could not see all the babies all at once as they did in the old unit, but they're adjusting well to the new environment, she said. Cone recounted that for the first week or so she would find herself making rounds to peek in on the newborns.

Even the medical technology at the new NICU is designed to minimize disturbing the tiny patients. Nurses can use remote controls both in- and outside the rooms to check monitors. Lights over the doors alert nurses to patient alarms, as do handsets carried by each nurse.

As the regional referral center, VCU also has specialized medical services not available at other facilities in the Richmond area, such as the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). This system oxygenates the blood of babies who have serious heart and lung issues.

While the new NICU was designed to incorporate recent medical research on NICU care, the staff of approximately 100 or so nurses also had a say in many aspects of the new facility. For example, nurses specially designed the headwalls behind the beds to make patient care easier, safer and more accessible.

These proprietary headwalls are angled so nurses can hook up gases, equipment and monitors without reaching behind the patient bed. The headwalls also include troughs for storing cords. The counters are made from nonporous material to prevent harboring micro-organisms. The sinks are no-splash to prevent slips. The storage room is set up on rolling shelves, and the staff determined product placement.

These rooms are also designed with family comfort in mind. They contain comfortable chairs to facilitate breastfeeding and holding the baby; pull-out sofas; locked refrigerators for breast milk storage, and even desks with Internet hookup for working parents.

Cone added that another benefit to the private room is that parents no longer have to "parent in public," which can mean breastfeeding, singing to a newborn, or grieving in a room full of strangers.

"One of the overarching things we've tried to create is a collaborative environment," Cone said, "not only for the baby, but also the parents and the health care provider...we're looking at it more holistically."