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Show . ' .. . . X .Mm- s . y f ; j ( I t ,' ; 1 , imt mutimsitatii 1 J 11 1111 "" ' 1 " " ) V7X CHEERLEADERS Heading cheers this year for the Wildcats at Woods Cross High are ' front, Verena Ballif. Back, 1 to r, Tami Carlisle, Karen Harries! Cathy Jones, Lisa Bangerter and Susie Parker. A catastrophic illness can bring heavy emotional and financial trauma to any family. WHEN IT involves newborn infants who require long-term intensive care treatment, the burdens can be great indeed. Medicine has evolved to the point where highly-sophisticated intensive care is allowing many ill newborns to survive and become healthy. However, the costs of this treatment are high, and it is not uncommon for such hospital hos-pital bills to reach into five figures. IN MOST cases, a prema- ture infant undergoes intensive inten-sive care for two weeks to a month - just long enough to allow its body to develop sufficiently. suf-ficiently. But a few instances, long-term care is necessary to correct chronic problems. Such is the case with Angela An-gela Berg, a tiny infant referred from Rock Springs, Wyo., to the University of Utah Medical Center's Inter-mountain Inter-mountain Newborn Intensive Care Center on May 4. Because of prematurity and respiratory distress due to immature lungs, Angela, while lively and alert, now suffers from bronchopulmonary bronchopul-monary dysplasia, a chronic lung disease. THE therapy necessary to keep Angela alive during her first few days of life in combination com-bination with her prematurity resulted in this chronic lung disorder. The baby's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Orvie Berg, are faced with mounting hospital expenses. As of Oct. 12, the Bergs' total University Hospital Hos-pital bill was $68,856, and doctors could not predict when the child would be well enough to survive outside of the intensive care unit. "ANGELA has to show improvement before we can predict a recovery rate," according ac-cording to Dr. Steve Minton, a newborn specialist at the Medical Center. "She needs constant oxygen therapy, careful monitoring and a special diet." The Children's Health Services Ser-vices of the State of Wyoming paid $7,545 toward the total bill -- the limit it can pay under Wyoming law. Other state and national financial assistance programs are unable una-ble to help the family. TO complicate matters further for the family, there is no health insurance. In the face of mounting bills with no means left to pay them, the family is appealing to Intermountain residents for help. ACCORDING to Tom Coleman, a perinatal social worker involved with the newborn center, persons wishing to assist the family can send donations to "The Angela Berg Fund," University Univer-sity of Utah Office of Development, 306 Park Building, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112. The Medical Center will provide tax receipts for donors, and the Bergs will be told who helped the family. "UNTIL states or the Federal government pass legislation designed to help people faced with catastropic illness, individuals musi the burden when their 1 insurance or resources tr, I out," Mr. Coleman sji I "We're trying to help -, I family bear that burden a ; I tie easier." |