Media Relations: Mercy News Archive

Mercy News | Mercy Facts At A Glance | Medical Experts Profiles
Story Ideas / News Archive | Mercy on the Web | Contact Media Relations

Mercy's NICU to be featured in new national television series, NICU DIARIES, presented by the Discovery Health channel

The Discovery Health Channel Producing Pilot, "NICU Diaries," At Mercy Medical Center

The Discovery Health Channel is developing a new documentary series, NICU DIARIES, that chronicles the real stories of babies, their parents, their doctors and caregivers in a neo-natal intensive care unit or NICU. Produced in a first-person style, NICU DIARIES will present the day-to-day challenges and treatments required to sustain the smallest of lives. Each 30-minute episode will track the journeys of families, medical staff, and special-care babies who are given a chance to thrive. Each episode will share the stories of infants and their care at two world-class hospitals – UCSD Medical Center in San Diego, California, and Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

Filming the series is LMNO Productions, an award winning, independent, Los Angeles-based production company. LMNO creates and produces documentary and entertainment programming for both U.S. and international broadcast. LMNO has a long and successful history of working with medical professionals on television series and specials, including "Babies: Special Delivery," "Amazing Medical Stories" and "Miracle Babies." Mercy was also a participant in the "Special Delivery" series. A crew from LMNO Productions has been on Mercy's campus since late March 2010, filming for four weeks on the hospital's Mother-Baby, Labor-and-Delivery, and NICU units (15, 16, and 17th floors), covering stories of births and the interaction between physicians, nurses, medical staff and patients. Among those working closely with the crew are Dr. Susan J. Dulkerian is Clinical Director of Mercy's NICU and Dr. Robert Atlas, OB/GYN, Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mercy.

Discovery Health Channel (one of the Discovery Networks) was launched in 1999 and is dedicated to presenting programming that highlights health and wellness. Discovery Health Channel programs feature a variety of health-related topics including diet, fitness, pregnancy, parenting, relationships and healthy living. Discovery Health Channel series include: 18 Kids and Counting; Deliver Me; Mystery Diagnosis; and The National Body Challenge. While an air date has not yet been announced, it is hoped that the series will be on air by fall 2010.