Photo by Laura Skelding

Jerome Swanson Sr. comforts his son, Jerome Swanson Jr. in the nursery at Natchez Regional Medical Center. The level II nursery services are some of the services scheduled to be trimmed from the hospital’s budget this year. Jerome Jr., almost 3 months old, weighed only 1.9 pounds when he was born. With the help of the nurses in the level II nursery, he has managed to get his weight up to almost 4 pounds.