Silver Cross NICU Milestone Bead Program Offers Parents Comfort and Connection
The new Milestone Bead Program at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox includes necklaces and beads given to families to wear and celebrate their newborns’ progress while in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
After spending 132 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Silver Cross Hospital, Nolan Villanueva is ready to go home to his family as mom, Rachelle, proudly wears his milestone beads.
Parents whose newborns are being cared for in the Amy, Matthew and Jay Vana Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox look to the doctors and nurses for any encouraging reports and updates throughout their stay.
When those milestones come, they celebrate and look forward to the next. And when their baby is home – whether it’s after a week or many weeks – parents then are focused on returning to “normal” as soon as possible.
Those first days, weeks or months can get lost in the blur of that journey. But for the past month and half, Silver Cross NICU staff has surprised and delighted new parents with a way to carry those early milestone memories forever … literally.
NICU staff adopted the NICU Milestone Bead Program. Parents of each baby in the NICU for seven days or more receive the kit, as well as a chart showing what the different beads signify.
“It’s like a charm bracelet you can keep adding to,” said Peggy Farrell, DNP, RN, Silver Cross Director of NICU and Lactation Services.
“The most prized bead, of course, is for when the baby is discharged and goes home. Then the parents have this forever.”
Farrell said after hearing about the program, NICU Case Manager Jen Wirth, RN, submitted a grant request approved by the Little Giraffe Foundation .
“It has been so great for the families. When we come in with the kit and explain what it’s all about, they are amazed. They just don’t expect it. And they love it.
“They get the first one, and they’re already looking forward to the next one. The parents wear them every day.”
Though the program has been around for only a month at Silver Cross, Farrell said they’ve given out the beads to families whose babies already were in the NICU.
“We recently gave a bead to a family whose baby was discharged after more than 100 days. They were thrilled; it was their time to go home.
“It sounds so simple, but this program is so meaningful for the families. It offers another connection with their babies’ progress and with the staff.
“Parents seem more confident with that connection. And it makes the time going through the NICU a little less isolating and meaningful. And that’s what we always want to do for the parents.”
To learn more about the Amy, Matthew and Jay Vana Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Silver Cross, visit silvercross.org
