A Legacy Of Life Dr. Sheldon B. Korones founded the Regional One Health neonatal intensive care unit in 1968 to give every baby a chance at quality care and a healthy life. Fifty years ago, when a baby was born too early in Memphis, the odds of survival were based heavily on his or her zip code. The city’s infant mortality rate was alarmingly high, especially in its poorer neighborhoods. It took a man on a mission to change that for the better. Dr. Sheldon B. Korones believed no baby should suffer or die simply because their family could not afford quality health care. In 1968, appalled by the disparity in care for the city’s rich and poor, he gave up a lucrative private practice to open a NICU at Memphis’ public hospital. The legacy he built through countless hours of personal effort and sheer force of will continues at the facility that now bears his name, Regional One Health’s Sheldon B. Korones Newborn Center. And it is a legacy that is felt in homes throughout the Mid-South. It is there every time Amanda Bass watches son Owen run around like the healthy toddler he is, in every hug Angela Sims gives daughter Nori Grace, in every family dinner the Actons sit down to together, in thousands of MidSouth families that are complete thanks to expert NICU care. Many of those families joined Regional One Health last year at an event to celebrate the newborn center’s half-century mark. regionalonehealth.org/foundation/change-a-life-donate-today/ 21
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