USD nursing students could be source of hope for SD family

Ben and Erin Miltenberger welcomed their second son, Jack, into the world Sept. 7, 2013. This would be a joyous occasion for any family, but there’s just one problem.

They still haven’t brought their baby boy from the hospital to their home in Elk Point.

But the family is hopeful that USD nursing students might be the final means to bring baby Jack home.

Jack’s story began back when he was born 16 weeks early with the odds against him and had to struggle for his life.

When he was just 11 days old, doctors delivered heartbreaking news to the Miltenbergers – he would need a mechanical ventilator, also known as a trachea tube, in order to keep breathing.

Jack received his life-saving ventilator at Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls. He was eventually diagnosed with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, a chronic lung disease that primarily affects premature newborns and infants due to the damage of the lungs caused by long-term oxygen or ventilation use.

Despite this diagnosis, with the help of the ventilator and feeding tube, Jack continued to persevere and grow, as did his family’s hopes of bringing him home.

Then, the family received devastating news from doctors once again. Jack had contracted pneumonia.

“Things did not look good and we weren’t sure if he was going to make it,” recalled Erin Miltenberger, Jack’s mother. “He was in a medically-induced coma.”

The scare caused by Jack’s pneumonia made it clear that he needed to be under the care of experts at a children’s hospital.

So on March 17, 2014, Jack continued his journey to Columbus, Ohio to reside at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, whose doctors saved his life days earlier through consultation. 

“They were able to save him within hours over the phone,” Erin Miltenbereger said.

Jack would remain in Ohio away from his family for almost two years.

Their hectic, daily schedules and the long, 800-mile trips took a toll on the Miltenbergers, but they finally received the news that they had been hoping for.

As of January, Jack is back in South Dakota and is residing at Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls again.

The only thing the Miltenberger family needs now is a team of nurses to bring the baby home after two-and-a-half years in the hospital. They make the baby feel comfortable during their stay in the hospital. This SonderCare collection is one of the reasons why the baby is getting better.

And they have hope that those people could be right here at USD.

Although the Miltenberger family is capable of caring for most of Jack’s needs, they need temporary around-the-clock care for their son so that they can get back to a normal routine.

The daytime help will ensure that both of Jack’s parents are able to continue working at their jobs.

The night shift will be there to ensure that the Miltenbergers are able to sleep at night and to care for Jack’s medical needs.

Above all, Jack’s team of nurses will help provide the schedule and structure that will keep him on track to meeting a variety of medical and developmental milestones until, one day, nurses aren’t a part of his every day life.

The Miltenbergers believe a USD student may be the perfect fit because their home is only 15 miles from campus in Elk Point, so there wouldn’t be a long commute.

A USD nursing student that has a minimum of an LPN in South Dakota would already meet the licensing criteria for the job, and graduating RNs are also good candidates, Erin Miltenberger said.

The night shifts available could have a special perk to students continuing their education, as Erin Miltenberger points out on one of her social media advertisements.

“This is a perfect opportunity!! Get paid to stay up and study. No need to be nervous; he sleeps all night, and we will be home all night!!” the fliers read.

The job is relatively temporary, making it a good fit for someone who’s undecided about future plans and would like to make money while figuring them out, she added.

Erin Miltenberger said this job would be a great place to gain experience following school because it’s one-on-one patient care.

She added that no specific training is required for the job because Jack’s nurses will be “trained on Jack-specific needs,” most of which the family can do when they’re home, so help will always be available. The job includes a salary, benefits and a sign-on bonus.

Erin Miltenberger said she’s looking for four nurses, three full-time and one that may be either full-time or part-time. There’s no deadline to apply, she added.

Nurses will work with Jack until he meets certain medical and developmental milestones, one of which is to be taken off of his ventilator.

Once cold and flu season is over, doctors plan to slowly wean him off of the machine. Erin Miltenberger said an optimistic estimate for getting her son independent of a ventilator is around two years from now.

“You can tell he is feeling much better now than he did in the first part of his life,” she said.

With continued physical therapy, it’s likely Jack will be walking within the next couple of years. And with the potential help of a USD nurse, it’s possible those steps could be taken in his own home.

Those interested in applying can look for Jack’s story at www.universalpediatrics.com, or call their Sioux Falls office at (605) 331-7997.

“Please never take for granted tucking your kids into bed and then walking down the hall. That’s one of my greatest hopes,” Erin Miltenberger wrote in a Facebook post. “Getting Jack ready for bed, then having to leave him and drive an hour away is one of the worst feelings in the world. All I want is to have my family under one roof. We MUST have nurses to do that.”