Loyola Medicine Awarded $10,000 Grant from Huggies® to Expand NICU Cuddling Program
January 15, 2019Categories: Emergency Medicine & Trauma
MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola Medicine was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from Huggies® as part of the company's No Baby Unhugged initiative.
The money will be used to expand Loyola's current Cradle Cuddler program with additional volunteers who provide comfort to the hospital's tiniest patients.
Cradle Cuddler Volunteers hold, calm, cuddle, read to or provide other comfort measures to premature infants, who on average stay 18 days in Loyola's neonatal intensive care unit.
"Human touch, including cuddling, is important in an infant's development," said Anne Cunningham, RN, nursing manager of Loyola's NICU. "Because a baby's stay in the NICU can last for weeks, family members often cannot be at the bedside for the entirety. Having someone to provide comfort and interaction helps not just the baby, but supports the family as well."
Loyola will train 25 people to become Cradle Cuddler Volunteers. Interested volunteers should apply online. They will be subject to an expanded background check and health screening.
"We are grateful to the Huggies® No Baby Unhugged initiative helping provide expanded support to our NICU babies," said Bob Nolan, senior director, corporate and foundation relations. "We believe in treating patients, both body and soul, and these volunteers will help us carry out that mission."
Loyola Medicine’s board-certified neonatologists are nationally and internationally recognized as leaders in neonatal care. As a Level III Perinatal Center, Loyola offers the latest technology, therapies and techniques and serves as a national model for specialized protocols and practices in the care of premature infants.
About Loyola Medicine
Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from nearly 2,000 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. LUMC is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the John L. Keeley, MD, Emergency Department, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, the Nancy W. Knowles Orthopaedic Institute, a certified comprehensive stroke center, transplant center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or X (formerly known as Twitter).
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, faith-based health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 127,000 colleagues and more than 38,300 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 26 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 93 hospitals, 107 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 142 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2024, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.3 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).