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1979 — 2008
A unit founded by two physicians: Neonatal intensive care came to Fort Wayne as a founded unit with named founders. Dr. William J. Lewis, a neonatologist, started Parkview's neonatal intensive care unit together with Dr. Donald Hoffman, and served as the unit's medical director from 1979 to 2005 — the dates stand in his published obituary in the Fort Wayne newspapers, the fullest account of the unit's founding. The unit's second advancement was architectural as much as clinical: when Parkview's Women's & Children's Hospital opened at Parkview North in February 2008, its thirty-bed neonatal intensive care unit was built entirely of private rooms, in which parents could stay with their infants around the clock — described in the contemporary account as the only hospital in Fort Wayne, and one of a few hospitals across the nation, built on that concept. The unit today is the Level III neonatal intensive care unit at Parkview Regional Medical Center, the system's highest level of newborn care. No source reached asserts a "first NICU in the region" claim for the 1979 unit, and none is printed; what the record supports is the founding, its founders, and the quarter-century directorship, and those stand.
Sources:
- Obituary of William J. Lewis, MD, Fort Wayne Newspapers (June 2009), via Legacy.com and The Waynedale News — Lewis started the Parkview Neonatal I.C.U. along with Dr. Donald Hoffman and was its medical director 1979–2005, medical director emeritus from 2005.
- The Post & Mail (Columbia City), contemporary account of the Women's & Children's Hospital at Parkview North, opening February 2008 — the thirty-bed neonatal intensive care unit of private rooms; "the only hospital in Fort Wayne — and one of a few hospitals across the nation" — offering the concept.
- Cincinnati Children's / Parkview Health release (16 June 2026) — Parkview Regional Medical Center's Level III neonatal intensive care unit, stated as the system's present provision.