UAMS NICU Receives $20,000 from Blue & You Foundation Grant to March of Dimes
| Feb. 24, 2017 | The Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas awarded a $20,000 grant to the March of Dimes for the Family Support Program in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at UAMS Medical Center for a second year.
A joint effort of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and the Arkansas March of Dimes, the NICU Family Support Program provides comfort, educational materials and other support to families in crisis. This includes training materials, resource guides, emotional support, videos, sibling support and one-on-one and group education. Funding from the 2016 grant also provided professional education for more than 100 UAMS medical staff who work with babies and parents in the NICU.
In Arkansas, more than 5,000 babies are born prematurely each year, and the Arkansas chapter of March of Dimes provides families with programs and services in communities across the state. March of Dimes helps mothers have full-term pregnancies and researches the problems that threaten the health of babies.
“We are thrilled Blue & You again joined March of Dimes and UAMS in support of families with babies in the NICU. We started several new programs in 2016 using the Blue & You grant and will be able to continue those this year,” said Kristin Powell, March of Dimes NICU Family Support specialist.
UAMS Medical Center has 58 private rooms for premature babies, including several rooms for twins and triplets. The March of Dimes and UAMS are entering the 10th year of a partnership to provide support and resources to NICU families and staff.
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield established the Blue & You Foundation in 2001 to promote better health in Arkansas. The foundation awards grants annually to non-profit or governmental organizations and programs that positively affect the health of Arkansans. In its 15 years of operation, the foundation has awarded more than $27 million to 1,036 health improvement programs in Arkansas.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###