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Families Take Action to Support the Tiniest Babies in Vermont
Families who know first-hand what it is like to have a baby born too soon, too small or with a birth defect have joined the March of Dimes Vermont Chapter over the past few years to deliver over 1000 items of preemie and newborn clothing to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Vermont Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care.
The outfits were collected during National Prematurity Awareness Month in November 2006 and 2007. Parents and grandparents, friends and neighbors, nurses, business professionals and children set up baskets and displays at 65 sites across the state including local libraries, schools, churches, hair salons, fitness gyms, daycares, hospitals, and work places to collect donations of newly purchased baby outfits, handmade sweaters, hats, blankets and booties.
The outfits will be distributed to Vermont area NICU’s as part of the March of Dimes NICU Family Support® program, which aims to provide information and comfort to families of premature babies and other critically ill newborns being cared for in the NICU.
Many parents don’t expect to spend their first days, weeks or months in the NICU. Debbie Souza of Highgate Center had twin boys, lost one of her sons in-utero and then went into premature labor 10 weeks early. “When we were in the NICU I received an outfit from a family that had a little girl that was born premature also. It meant a lot to me because I didn't feel alone. I sat there hoping that we didn't have to be there any longer and thought to myself why us? But it's not just us. It happens everyday to families. You don't have to have a lot of money to take time out of your life to get just one outfit for a family in the NICU . It shows them that they are not alone.”
For more information on donating a new baby outfit, knitted blankets, sweaters or handmade outfits please contact Michelle Wallace mwallace@marchofdimes.com or 479-3265 x11.
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Perinatal Statistics
Visit our Peristats website to view more information about prematurity
in Vermont.
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Additional Information Regarding Prematurity
Informational brochures about prematurity are available from the March of Dimes office near you, by calling 800-367-6630, or at our National Website.
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Donating is easy online, by phone or mail / fax.
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