This year’s second annual, two-week Lovin’ on Little Lobos drive successfully benefited children admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NBICU) at the University of New Mexico Children’s Hospital, according to event coordinators.
UNM Staff Councilor Jodi Perry said dozens of items including newborn and preemie onesies, socks, booties, newborn/children’s board books and Halo SleepSacks were donated this year. Sponsored by the UNM Health Sciences Center staff committee, the drive benefits all patients in the Newborn ICU each year—this amounts to roughly 50 admissions a month.
Administrative Officer for the Staff Council Kathy Meadows said that the drive was necessary because of the unpredictability that comes with patients visiting the NBICU.
"Patients in the NBICU are there unexpectedly, so the families are unprepared with clothes and such, especially the preemie sizes," Meadows said.
Perry is the Precinct 19 Councilor, a member of the HSC Staff Committee and the Staff Council Treasurer. She started and organized the drive in 2015 and organized it again this year, she said.
Members of the HSC Staff Committee assisted her in setting up donation drop-off sites, flyer design, advertising, sorting through donations and dropping the donations off at the Newborn ICU, Perry said.
“I would say this year was a great success,” Meadows said.“We received donations from staff on the main, north [and] south campuses, and even from some of the UNM branch campuses.”
The donated items are beneficial to families in various ways, she said. and the donated Halo SleepSacks are especially helpful.
“studies have shown that swaddling infants helps parents form a bond with their child. Often, the child is connected to tubes and wires, and any contact helps the baby and parents bond. We also collected board books, and many parents read to their infants—it’s just another way to promote bonding,” Meadows said.
The NBICU is going to be able to set up a permanent library in the NBICU for the parents to use, because of these donations, Perry said.
“Parents and babies from around the state that end up in the NBICU will be able to use the clothing items to dress their babie," she said. "Many of these parents haven’t bought things for their baby yet and haven’t had a baby shower yet, because their baby arrived many months too early.”
Meadows said the Staff Council heads two other donation drives: the Read to Me drive and another drive to support Animal Humane New Mexico.
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The Read to Me drive collects books from children in Albuquerque Public Schools and runs from February 15 through March 31 this year, she said. The drive supporting Animal Humane New Mexico runs from November through December.
“The Staff Council is always willing to work with students to enhance our donation drives,” Meadows said.
Interested students can contact the Staff Council Office at:scouncil@unm.edu to learn more.
Elizabeth Sanchez is a staff reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Beth_A_Sanchez.
