After a 56 day stay in the Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, baby Witt thrives.
By Kathy Engle, Vitals contributor
“Don’t cry over spilled milk” was not written by a neonatal intensive care unit mom. That is one of the insights new mom, Hallie Skipper had when her son, Witt, was born at 29 weeks and 3 days. He stayed 56 days in the Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU, which became a second home and the family’s entire world.
Tummy time for Witt in the Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital NICU
“If you’ve ever hooked up to a painful pump at 3 a.m. without your baby by your side, hoping that your body will produce just enough milk to nourish your less than 3-pound newborn, then you know that every drop matters. Every. Single. Drop,” Skipper recalls.
More than 1 in 10 babies in the United States were born prematurely in 2024, meaning more than 400,000 families like the Skippers found themselves navigating the fragile world of a NICU not knowing when they could bring their babies home.
“Sutter Santa Rosa’s NICU team became our extended family – our lifeline,” Skipper says. “Every NICU baby is a miracle, and miracles need specialized equipment, trained staff and the kind of compassionate care that turns fear into hope. That is what Sutter Santa Rosa did for us.”
Annual Golf Tournament Benefits NICU Families
The Skippers’ story is just one of hundreds that unfold in Sutter Santa Rosa’s NICU each year. Behind the scenes, a dedicated care team and community works year-round to make sure families have the resources, comfort and care they need. That’s where people like Mike Feeney come in.
(Left to right) Michelle Syufy, Joe Syufy, Mike Feeney and Tina Feeney
For years, the Sonoma County businessman has worked hard to support the NICU in Santa Rosa for families, striving to keep high-quality health care close to home. Feeney helped raise money to build Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital’s new facility, which opened in 2014, and later joined the hospital’s philanthropy board.
But Feeney’s service has truly accelerated since he gathered Santa Rosa community leaders to create the Sutter Santa Rosa Annual Golf Invitational at Mayacama Golf Club. The event, which is holding its ninth edition on August 26, raises money for the hospital’s NICU and the Bill and Elizabeth Shea House, a haven for out-of-town families with babies in intensive care.
“The Mayacama golf course did not allow outside tournaments to be held, but I worked my connections and got them to agree to let us start the fundraiser for Sutter Santa Rosa’s NICU,” says Feeney, executive committee chair of the invitational. “When you see the impact we’ve made for families with babies in the NICU, it’s so powerful and keeps pushing me to make the tournament more successful each year.”
Feeney is always listening to suggestions for how to improve the event and works hard to attract new participants each year while honoring long-term supporters.
“I want to make this a family affair where attendees who may not be playing golf arrive early for a glass of champagne and enjoy themselves before the big fundraising begins,” he says. “By the time our families hear touching stories from the families who have benefitted from local care, they want to invite new people the next year.”
In 2024, his efforts led to the most successful tournament yet, raising more than $500,000 and bringing the eight-year donation total to more than $3.1 million. Once the gifts from this year’s event are tallied, it’ll likely set a new record for impact.
Critical Care for Vulnerable Patients and Families
The Sutter Santa Rosa NICU admits an average of 300 newborns each year – babies whose families would otherwise have to travel to Sutter’s CPMC in San Francisco for lifesaving treatment. With 12 NICU beds, three full-time neonatologists and 39 specially trained nurses, the unit offers pediatric subspecialties, including neurology, along with leading-edge technology to help ensure the best possible outcomes.
Mike Feeney at the Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital Shea House
“Philanthropic gifts from our generous community have empowered us to redefine what is possible for our tiniest patients,” says Lisa Amador, Sutter’s senior director of philanthropy in the North Bay. “Along with helping these miracle babies survive, proceeds from this special golf tournament also allow hundreds of families to stay on property at the Shea House while their newborns are in the hospital.”
Since reopening in 2019 after burning to the ground in the Santa Rosa fire of 2017, the Shea House has been a refuge for more than 261 families. If rooms are not available in the house, families are offered vouchers to stay at nearby hotels.
Additionally, a full complement of services are available for NICU families, including support from social workers, high-risk infant follow-up programming for premature and severely compromised infants, and virtual appointments to help identify high-risk pregnancies as early as possible.
“It is so satisfying to know that what we raise at the golf tournament helps bring the latest technology and underwrite compassionate whole-baby care and whole-person care for their families,” Feeney says.
Philanthropic partnerships like this one enable Sutter to push the boundaries of possibility, turning innovation into reality and ambition into impact. The Skipper family certainly felt this support.
For people interested in helping to make future golf tournaments soar to new heights, please contact Lisa Amador at lisa.amador@sutterhealth.org or Sukie Gill at sukie.gill@sutterhealth.org or visit our web site.
