UAMS Family Home Donation Benefits Neonatal Intensive Care
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| UAMS Family Home board chairman Greg Ramer presents a donation of $13,057 to neonatal intensive care nurse Shannon Hall, R.N. |
Jan. 27, 2012 | New equipment and supplies for Arkansas’ tiniest babies are on the way thanks to a recent donation by the UAMS Family Home.
A check for $13,057 was presented to nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to purchase equipment and supplies.
The donation represented a portion of the proceeds from the annual Tiny Hands Monster Bash fundraiser held in October 2011 to benefit the NICU and the UAMS Family Home. It was presented by Greg Ramer, UAMS Family Home board chairman, to Shannon Hall, R.N., NICU nurse and Tiny Hands Monster Bash volunteer.
“We so appreciate the relationship that we share with UAMS and with the NICU. Knowing that the proceeds from this event directly benefit these babies is a great motivator for our volunteers,” Ramer said. The UAMS NICU provides state-of-the-art care for many of Arkansas’ tiniest infants — some weighing less than two pounds and requiring hospitalization for weeks or months.
The donation will be used for such things as a large crib for older babies, developmental equipment including mobiles, and minor renovations to the unit’s kitchen and family room.
Part of the donation also will purchase the supplies needed to provide each family with a plaster mold of their baby’s hand, giving them a tangible remembrance of their time in the NICU.
An amount equivalent to the donation will be used by the UAMS Family Home to provide lodging for parents of babies in the NICU and to improve the rooms available for them to stay in during their child’s hospitalization. The remainder of the total $78,354 raised at the fundraiser provides a portion of the UAMS Family Home’s operating expenses.
The UAMS Family Home is a private, nonprofit organization that provides low-cost, comfortable housing for parents of infants in the NICU and for patients in the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. The home also houses the Cancer Institute’s Auxiliary Cancer Support Center.