March of Dimes provides weekly family support for the families of patients in the Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (RNICU) and UAB's Continuing Care Nursery (CCN). This support consists of weekly "Parent Hours". At parent hour, a professional is invited to educate the parents/family members on aspects of the neonate's care. These professionals range from a speech pathologist, who speaks on feedings, to a librarian who speaks on searching for valid information on their infant's healthcare. Each week, scrap booking is also held for the parents. These 2-3 hour sessions are a time for moms and dads to swap stories while creating scrapbooks of their baby's time in NICU. March of Dimes also holds holiday parties, such as a Father's Day ice cream sundae party and a Forth of July Popcycles and Fireworks party.
It is my hope to be able to post pictures of some of these events at some point if I am able to get consent.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
New Specialist!
I just want to welcome our new NICU Family Support Specialist, Amy. She has such a heart for these families...she moved all the way from West Virginia to take this job. She is already great in the position, and I look forward to working with her for the remainder of the summer!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Did you know...?
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with kangaroo care, here are a few "quick facts":
Kangaroo care is also referred to as "Skin-to-skin" or may be abreviated as KC.
Kangaroo care is the practice of holding a neonate skin on skin. For premies, KC mimics the feeling of being in the womb.
Kangaroo care is effective when performed by anyone (from mom, dad, grandparent, etc.); however, hospital policy on visitors may vary.
Kangaroo care provides EXTRAORDINARY benefits for baby AND mom including:
*Improved infant temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate.
*Improved sleeping patterns- and growing premies NEED their sleep.
*Pain control for infants during painful procedures such as injections.
*Improved maternal/infant bonding <-- this is critical during those first few scary days!
Kangaroo care can be safely performed on intubated babies and can performed on twins simultaneously.
Studies have been performed to back up ALL of these statements! So..are you a member of the Kangaroo Club?
Kangaroo care is also referred to as "Skin-to-skin" or may be abreviated as KC.
Kangaroo care is the practice of holding a neonate skin on skin. For premies, KC mimics the feeling of being in the womb.
Kangaroo care is effective when performed by anyone (from mom, dad, grandparent, etc.); however, hospital policy on visitors may vary.
Kangaroo care provides EXTRAORDINARY benefits for baby AND mom including:
*Improved infant temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate.
*Improved sleeping patterns- and growing premies NEED their sleep.
*Pain control for infants during painful procedures such as injections.
*Improved maternal/infant bonding <-- this is critical during those first few scary days!
Kangaroo care can be safely performed on intubated babies and can performed on twins simultaneously.
Studies have been performed to back up ALL of these statements! So..are you a member of the Kangaroo Club?
WELCOME!
Hello blogger world!
My name is Emily Johnson, and I am a third semester nursing student in the UAB Honors in Nursing program. In this program, we {each student} dedicate three semesters to developing and implementing a service learning project. I chose to partner with March of Dimes, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing healthier babies into the world {for more info on March of Dimes, visit there website @ http://www.marchofdimes.com/).
One major component of March of Dimes' work is their NICU Family Support Program. This program provides educational and emotional support to the moms, dads, and siblings of the premies and sick babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units throughout the United States. My service learning project involves partnering with the staff of the family support program to increase the use of kangaroo care in UAB Hospital's Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I look forward to keeping the World Wide Web up to date on my project, and hope that my readers will bear with me as I {slowly} learn the ropes of blogging.
My name is Emily Johnson, and I am a third semester nursing student in the UAB Honors in Nursing program. In this program, we {each student} dedicate three semesters to developing and implementing a service learning project. I chose to partner with March of Dimes, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing healthier babies into the world {for more info on March of Dimes, visit there website @ http://www.marchofdimes.com/).
One major component of March of Dimes' work is their NICU Family Support Program. This program provides educational and emotional support to the moms, dads, and siblings of the premies and sick babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units throughout the United States. My service learning project involves partnering with the staff of the family support program to increase the use of kangaroo care in UAB Hospital's Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I look forward to keeping the World Wide Web up to date on my project, and hope that my readers will bear with me as I {slowly} learn the ropes of blogging.
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