Chicago Hospital Offers Cuddlers To Help NICU Babies
Newsy
An infant ICU in Chicago illustrates how hospitals are trying to jump-start their cuddling programs where volunteers hold babies.
When it comes to infants, many claim to be baby whisperers, but only a few truly have the magic touch.
For over 35 years, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago has been helping infant patients and their families through a volunteer cuddler program. When families are away from the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, volunteers comfort infants by giving them a good cuddle.
"We saw a need: the fact that we could not expect families to be here all the time and the babies had needs 24/7," said Judy Fredericks, NICU cuddler program coordinator and wellness liaison for the Rush Center For Clinical Wellness. "The whole idea of families can't be here all the time, and we understand that, and we know they feel terrible when they can't be here all the time. But, we want to lessen that by letting them know that we have someone that has trained, is educated, is screened."
