Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital

Hollywood – October 29, 2026 -- Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital has implanted an Inspire hypoglossal nerve stimulation device in a teenage patient with Down syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea, its first such procedure. The hospital is now the only center in South Florida offering the therapy to these patients.

How the implant keeps airways open during sleep

Inspire is described as the first FDA-approved obstructive sleep apnea treatment that works inside the body to address the root cause of the condition. A small device is implanted in a minimally invasive procedure and uses gentle stimulation to keep the airway open during sleep. Patients or caregivers turn the therapy on before bedtime by clicking a button on the Inspire remote.

Hollywood, Fla. – October 02, 2026 -- Five babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital at Memorial Hospital Miramar dressed up as a lion, a zebra, a monkey and twin giraffes for this year's Babies with Books Read-A-Thon, marking the hospital's seventh year participating in the national event.

Parents read aloud to babies during the jungle-themed celebration

Families, siblings and caregivers gathered bedside to read to the costumed infants as part of the 2026 Read-A-Thon, which ran September 14-24 during National Literacy Month. The event encourages reading aloud to NICU babies to support early language and brain development and to give families a bonding moment during what can be a stressful hospital stay.

Katherine Zaensi, whose daughter was dressed in zebra stripes, said seeing her baby dressed up "brings light" to the difficulty of having a child in the NICU.