With a long, impressive career, Howard is considered a leader among his colleagues. He can explain his wealth of knowledge in simple terms to families at the bedside. Every day, we hear families ask, “Were is Howard?” or “My baby wants Howard today” or “Howard, you saved my baby’s life.” Howard attends the NICU reunion every year — amazingly, all the families remember his impact on their lives.
Howard’s leadership helped start several programs here that continue to gain worldwide attention. An example: The Family Integrated Care Program involved our NICU spending a year testing basic concepts for family integrated care. Under his guidance, we presented this progressive way of taking care of both baby AND family at the Vermont Oxford Network international conference. Many more NICUs in the U.S. now use our work. Another successful program under Howard’s faithful leadership was for our Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) mothers and infants. We provide a family-centered approach to help infants withdraw from opiate exposure, and through a March of Dimes grant, Howard educated providers who prescribe opiates to women of child-bearing age. Salem Health’s NICU also won an international competition for skin-to-skin care. His positive attitude and gentle prodding pushed our team to lead the pack in neonatal care across the world!
In Howard’s words, “This is not an invitation. It is an expectation to do what is best for our NICU babies.” Salem Hospital’s NICU is well-known across the nation for their work in many areas, thanks to Howard.