Sunday, August 5, 2007

8/5 - Encouraging Message - The True Rewards of Saving NICU Babies

Today's message of encouragement quote comes from NICU Nurse, Marcia Kilpatrick.

There is no black and white
here in the intensive care nursery.

Go ahead
and spit out your dismal statistics,
but the real truth
is in the toothless smile of the baby
anyone else would have given up on.

It is highly likely if my youngest daughter had been born even 10 years earlier than she was, or born in a more rural setting that she would not be with us here today. The survival statistics for her condition (PPHN) at that time were much worse.

I am grateful for the care that the NICU staff provided my daughter. I am thankful that we lived near a Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit so she got the treatment and the advance level of care that she needed to support her heart and lungs (
cardio-respiratory system) during the first few critical hours of life.

The True Rewards

This quote was a good reminder for me as a healthcare provider and as a parent. Sometimes the greatest rewards for what we do in healthcare and what we do as parents, comes from the most unlikely places. In the case of healthcare, the rewards come from our patients, in the case of being a parent--from our children.


About the Quote
This quote was one that I saved from a blog posting from June. Unfortunately, Marcia has since decided to take down her Ants Go Marching Blog. She is still blogging for the Columbus Parent. You can read her blog entries under
Ants Marching.

Source:

Kilpatrick, M. What I Do. Ants Marching Blog. June 2006. Previously Available at Marcia Kilpatrick Blogspot.

Photo Source:
Denz Zani. Baby Face. Royalty Free Use.

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1 comment:

Marcia said...

Hey, thanks for the compliment. I do love me some babies.

And aaaargh! I just realized I never sent you my opinion of your book! Incoming.....