No parent plans for the NICU. You pack the hospital bag, pick the going-home outfit and picture that first quiet moment together.  

Then a baby arrives too soon, too small or with a condition no one saw coming, and everything changes in a heartbeat. 

In those moments, the care closest to you matters more than ever. Across FMOL Health, families in Monroe, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Jackson have access to advanced neonatal intensive care without leaving the communities they call home. 

Two physicians who have built their careers around that mission joined Straight from the Source to share what happens behind the NICU doors.  

Carmen Payne, MD, is a neonatologist at FMOL Health | St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe, home to Northeast Louisiana’s only Level III NICU. Deiadra Garrett, MD, is a pediatric general surgeon at FMOL Health | Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital in Lafayette, home to Acadiana’s only Level III Surgical NICU. 

Their stories reveal a world that is fragile and fierce, tender and tireless, and always guided by love. 

A Calling Measured in Decades 

Dr. Payne grew up and earned her medical degree in Mexico. She completed a pediatric residency in El Paso, Texas, then a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. More than 31 years ago, she came to Monroe. She never left. 

She doesn’t see her work as a gift to the community. She sees it the other way around. 

“I don’t feel like I’m doing a favor,” Dr. Payne says. “I think they are giving me a favor to allow me to serve this community.” 

The Only Level III NICU in Northeast Louisiana 

A Level III NICU cares for the most critically ill newborns, including extremely premature babies, babies with low birth weight, respiratory illnesses and complex conditions present at birth. Dr. Payne describes these infants as “the most vulnerable and fragile patients” a hospital will ever treat. 

At St. Francis, that care sits steps away from labor and delivery. For a baby in distress, that distance can shape everything that follows. 

“Every minute counts,” Dr. Payne says. “The closer that you are to the facility where the baby delivers to where the care will be taken care of, is minutes that you cannot lose.” 

St. Francis also offers the area’s only OB emergency department, a Level III obstetric unit and a maternal-fetal medicine clinic for high-risk pregnancies. Together, those services care for mothers and babies facing preterm labor, genetic conditions, complex heart problems and other serious concerns. 

That full continuum is why Dr. Payne speaks so plainly about where expecting families should deliver. She calls it “the life-saving decision, the smart decision, the only decision.” 

Why Close to Home Makes All the Difference 

A NICU stay can stretch for weeks or months. Dr. Payne knows that the medical journey is only part of what families carry. 

“Emotionally speaking, it’s like a roller coaster for families,” she says. 

Too often, she has seen that stress multiplied by distance. “We see it all the time, where the mother is in another hospital, in another community, and the baby’s here,” Dr. Payne says. Parents may also be juggling childcare for other children, jobs and the financial strain of travel. 

Keeping care close removes some of that weight. A new Ronald McDonald House Family Room at St. Francis near the NICU now gives families a place to rest just moments from their baby’s bedside. With open visitation, parents can stay involved around the clock. 

“The more they visit, the better it is,” Dr. Payne says. 

A Whole Team Behind Every Tiny Heartbeat 

No neonatologist works alone, and Dr. Payne is quick to say so.  

She partners closely with Marc De Soler, MD, ensuring a neonatologist is available around the clock, every day of the year. Together, they lead a team that surrounds each infant with expertise and cutting-edge technology. 

At St. Francis, that team includes: 

• Neonatal nurse practitioners who provide 24/7 coverage 
• Specialized neonatal nurses who stay at the bedside 
• Respiratory therapists who support fragile lungs 
• Pharmacists, social workers and case managers who guide treatment and families 
• Speech and occupational therapists who help babies reach milestones like their first feeding 
• Lactation support

When everyone comes together, Dr. Payne says the unit shifts into a single purpose. “We are in a mission,” she says, “and we’re going to accomplish it.” 

What the “S” in Level III Surgical NICU Means 

Dr. Garrett’s path to medicine began with her own childhood diagnosis. As a high school student with scoliosis, she wore a back brace for four years and remembers how her orthopedic surgeon treated her with kindness and included her in her own care. 

That experience carried her through medical school at the University of Pittsburgh, surgical training in New Orleans, a PhD in genetics and fellowships in Chicago, Los Angeles and at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. She could have practiced anywhere. She chose home. 

“I knew we needed a pediatric surgeon in this community,” Dr. Garrett says. 

At Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital, the NICU is classified Level III Surgical, meaning pediatric surgeons, pediatric anesthesiologists and other surgical specialists are ready to care for newborns who need an operation. 

“We don’t want our babies to have surgery if they don’t need surgery,” Dr. Garrett says. “But we’re here if they do.” 

When Even an IV Takes a Surgeon 

Dr. Garrett’s specialty is caring for the tiniest premature babies, some weighing as little as 300 grams, or less than a pound. For infants that small, even routine care can be extraordinary. 

When skilled NICU nurses can’t place an IV or a PICC line because a baby’s vessels are too tiny, they call a pediatric surgeon. 

“We’re sometimes the last resort in that situation,” Dr. Garrett says. “And we have to be successful. And we are because we’re trained to do just that.” 

Her team also operates on newborns with twisted or blocked intestines, abdominal wall defects, holes in the diaphragm and blockages in the esophagus. Without a surgical NICU in Acadiana, many of those babies would have to leave the region and spend months recovering far from home. 

19 Private Suites, One Shared Purpose 

The newly expanded NICU at Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital features 19 private family suites, where parents can stay with their babies throughout their care. For Dr. Garrett, that space does more than offer comfort. It changes how care happens. 

“We have to have the parents at the core of the decision-making,” she says. “It takes doctors and nurses, and the parents, most importantly.” 

During rounds, parents are right there at the bedside, hearing the plan, sharing concerns and asking questions. Surgeons, neonatologists led by Amy Zeringue, MD, and families all work together under one roof. 

The result? “We’re just better,” Dr. Garrett says. “It really makes us all look at things with fresh eyes.” 

The Moments That Make It All Worth It 

Ask these physicians about joy, and their answers come from the heart. 

For Dr. Payne, it’s the milestones: a mother holding her baby skin-to-skin for the first time, a first bottle, the day a baby moves from an incubator to an open crib. The NICU “can be a very scary place,” Dr. Payne says, “but it’s full of love, hope and shows resilience.” 

For Dr. Garrett, it’s the walk out of the operating room. “After we operate, I just almost run to talk to the parents,” Dr. Garrett says, to tell them, “Surgery went well.” 

And when families finally go home, she celebrates with a full heart and a hint of sadness. Over weeks and months of rounds, “they become part of our family,” Dr. Garrett says. Still, the goal never changes. “Families are meant to be home.” 

Care That Stays Close, Love That Goes the Distance 

Every NICU baby begins life with a fight. Across FMOL Health, no family has to face that fight alone or far from home. 

Dr. Garrett’s message to her community is simple: “Our Lady of Lourdes can take care of the surgical needs of our children. Period.” 

Dr. Payne’s promise is just as clear. “Your baby will be in very good hands,” she says. “We dedicated our lives to their care, and we are willing to dedicate several more years to their care because it’s our passion, it’s our love to do this job.” 

For the smallest patients, that kind of love makes all the difference. 

We hope your family never needs a NICU, but it’s good to know what’s available — just in case. Across our health system, we offer access to the highest quality family-centered care.  

• Acadiana: Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital’s Level III Surgical NICU  
• Northeast Louisiana: the region’s only Level III NICU at St. Francis Medical Center 
• Greater Baton Rouge and Northshore: Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital’s Newton & Betsy Thomas Family Center for Newborn & Infant Intensive Care
• Greater Jackson: St. Dominic Hospital’s Level III NICU