Protecting Hospitals Means Protecting Our NICUs

More than 3.7 million babies are born every year in the United States. Those born premature, or with an illness requiring constant, specialized care, are brought to a hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Nurse Claire Panke and the team at Lenox Hill Hospital's NICU are the eyes and ears for some of the hospital's most vulnerable patients. For these hospital heroes, caring for babies is more than a job—it's a passion.

But massive federal cuts to hospitals —$121.9 billion since 2010, and counting—make it harder for NICU workers like Claire to do their jobs. America's hospitals are there for us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Now it's time for us to be there for them.

Claire and the NICU patients she cares for can't afford another dollar in funding cuts.

We can't allow Washington to continue slashing hospitals. Let your members of Congress know that protecting America's hospitals means protecting patient care.