Comforting the Tiniest of Patients
For most parents, their newborn’s stay in Magee’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is unexpected and frightening. However, for countless years, donors have attempted to comfort infants and parents alike with handmade blankets and hats, as well as other store bought baby items.
Dorothy Damico, administrative secretary at the NICU for the last 25 years and coordinator of the donations, recalls stories about the handmade contributions arriving even before her employment at Magee. Throughout the years, numerous groups and individuals have given their time and talent to sustain the constant stream of blankets and hats to each premature baby that enters the NICU.
It only takes a brief walk through the NICU to see the multiple uses of the blankets and hats. Small blankets, the most contributed item, drape over incubators creating a dark and quiet environment, which is the most beneficial for growth. Once the infants grow and advance to the open bed units, the blankets offer the babies warmth and comfort.
The handmade hat donations play a similar role throughout the NICU. When the infants are very small, hats serve more as keepsakes for the parents since their children are still too fragile to have their heads covered. Once they grow, the nurses are able to place the miniature hats on the infants’ heads for warmth.
Vicki McCue, a NICU donor, began creating handmade hats after her twin grandchildren, Julia and Nicholas, received blankets and hats during their stay in the NICU. “When my daughter and I walked in [the NICU] and saw them with hats on, you just felt like someone was loving your baby,” says Vicki.
Vicki now donates twenty hats at a time, packaged in what she likes to call “boxes of love.” As fall approaches, Vicki plans to make black and gold hats for the tiniest of Steelers fans. “I feel like I am giving back. It’s like a circle - people helping people. It’s what we have to do,” says Vicki.
To the right: One of the many items being sewn by volunteers is mini kimono gowns. Catherin Batcho of Cut & Sew Studio in Pittsburgh leads this initiative for the babies in Magee's NICU.
Continuing the circle of giving, Catherine Batcho, owner of Cut & Sew Studio in Pittsburgh, holds free sewing days every month for students to make miniature kimono gowns, a new addition to the handmade donations at the NICU. “Hearing stories about how difficult it is to find clothing for premature babies and reading about how much parents appreciate the handmade clothing, I thought that making and donating kimono gowns to the NICU was a prefect idea,” Catherine says. “There is such great reward in offering your talents to make an item which brightens the day of the person who receives it.”
Once the donations arrive, they warm not only the infants’ tiny bodies, but also the hearts of their families. Janice Hackett, a NICU mother, said that when her son, Cameron, received a blanket and hat, it was comforting to know he had something of his own laying with him. Many blankets, including Cameron’s, have a small tag stating the name of the group that handmade it. Janice sent a donation to the group who made Cameron’s blanket to show her appreciation for their generous gift.
Mary Kish, a clinical education specialist in the NICU, emphasized how much the staff loves and appreciates the donations. “Many nurses will go through the blankets and hats and pick out the perfect one to match the personality of the baby that they are caring for. Then they can tell the parents they picked out the blanket just for them. It’s great once the babies leave and you see them out, and they still have their blankets with them. For many, the blankets go in their box of memories of the NICU,” says Mary.
Though Magee’s NICU serves more than 1,500 seriously or critically ill babies every year, there is no doubt that each and every infant will be comforted by the constant inflow of generous donations. Dorothy Damico recalled a recent donation from Christ Child Society including sixty bags of store bought baby items. “We were literally putting bags at bedsides of babies whose families wanted them. We are truly grateful for every one of our donors,” says Dorothy.
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