Overview:
Parents of newborns admitted to the NICU at CHRISTUS Children’s hospital will now have 24/7 video access to their babies.
When Candice Chapman was six months pregnant with her third boy, an ultrasound revealed a heart defect in her baby.
Casen Venegas entered the world three weeks ago and has been receiving intensive care since then at CHRISTUS Children’s Hospital in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Chapman, a 35-year-old single mom, is commuting to the hospital to check in on her newborn while also taking care of his siblings, who are 10 and 11 years old.
“I’m constantly looking at his pictures, and I have that mom guilt because I’m not with him every day,” she said. “But I also have my two other boys that need me at home.”
Candice Chapman comforts her son at the initiation for the NICU’s new 24/7 camera system for premature babies and infants needing special treatment at CHRISTUS Children’s Hospital on Aug. 6, 2025. Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report
On Wednesday, CHRISTUS Children’s Hospital introduced new cameras in the NICU, which will allow moms like Chapman to have a 24/7 livestream of their babies and provide more involvement in their care.
“To be able to see him and not having to worry about a vehicle or how I’m going to get to the hospital, that’s very important to me,” Chapman said. “It makes me feel like I’m close to him even when I’m far away.”
The hospital, located at 333 N. Santa Rosa St. in downtown San Antonio, will now become the second hospital with such technology. The camera system at CHRISTUS was made possible by a $150,000 donation through CHRISTUS’ fundraising arm.
Hospital officials celebrated the new technology on Wednesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony, in which the cameras were blessed with holy water.
CHRISTUS Children’s has 60 NICU beds designated as level four advanced neonatal intensive care by the state, the highest level of care.
The recently-built University Health Women’s and Children’s Hospital in the South Texas Medical Center was the first facility in the city to install a 24/7 video monitoring system for its NICU. University Health’s hospital also offers the highest level of NICU care designated by the state.
Benjamin Hackett and Stephanie Lerma celebrate the new camera system installed for the NICU for premature infants or infants with special health needs at Christus Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital on Aug. 6, 2025. Hackett’s donation helped pay for the new cameras. Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report
San Antonio is home to 10 hospitals with NICU units, according to an interactive map from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services last updated in the fall.
These units are reserved for newborn babies who need intensive medical care directly after birth. Most babies admitted to the NICU are preterm, meaning they were born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. But newborns who are sick, have low birth weights or special health conditions are also admitted to the NICU.
All 60 of CHRISTUS Children’s NICU beds are now equipped with the new cameras, allowing a constant yet secure livestream of the newborns accessible through a phone or computer.
The hospital plans on implementing additional and more mobile cameras in the future, according to Pratik Parikh, assistant medical director of the NICU.
“Serving the community of San Antonio and South San Antonio, I think this is going to bring an important piece of support to them and our goal for family-centric care for them,” Parikh said.