Photo display offers hope to parents of premature infants

At the Wall of Hope, the donation by Josh Samuels (centre) is acknowledged by (from left) Lilla Sternthal, a friend of the Samuels family; Roz Rinzler, Chair of the Tiny Miracle Fund; Josh’s parents, Russell Samuels and Cindy Samuels; Dr. Apostolos Papageorgiou, JGH Chief of Pediatrics and Neonatalogy; Auxiliary Co-Presidents Sarah Hutman and Renna Bassal; Auxiliary Past President Beatrice Lewis; Auxiliary Director Nancy Rubin; and NICU nurse Claudia Cinquino.

Every day, a desperate struggle for life is waged by premature infants and seriously ill newborns—with support from JGH staff and the babies’ anxious parents—in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

But the JGH Auxiliary wants to make sure that even on what may seem like the darkest days, one key message stands out: There is hope.

A new display, mounted by the Auxiliary and known as the Wall of Hope, features 20 poster-sized photos of the Unit’s “graduates”, who are now happy, healthy children. Each holds a photo of how she or he looked at birth, along with their names and birth statistics.

The Wall of Hope, located in the corridor of the NICU in Pavilion K, focuses on former patients who weighed less than a kilogram when they were born several years ago. Today they serve as an inspiration to parents that even babies who enter the world under difficult circumstances can grow into healthy childhood.

The project, which ties in with World Prematurity Day on November 17, was organized by The Auxiliary’s Tiny Miracle Fund which, under Chair Roz Rinzler, is committed to purchasing vital, life-sustaining equipment for the JGH’s tiniest patients.

Donations to the fund are gratefully accepted online or can be made by calling The Auxiliary at 514-340-8216.

Josh Samuels is thanked for his donation by Dr. Apostolos Papageorgiou, JGH Chief of Pediatrics and Neonatalogy.