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The neo-natal intensive care unit at The Children’s Hospital of Southwest
Florida is a special place. It’s a calm and quiet spot where premature babies
catch up on their development and care. A big part of that care includes cuddle
time. Evelyn Reynolds is a co-chair of the Cuddler Program at the hospital. She
says, “It’s been proven over and over that touch time is more important to the
development the healthy development of a baby and parents can’t always be here.”
That’s where the cuddlers in the cuddler program come in to help. “The nurses
are assigned multiple babies to take care of for their shift so it’s very
important that the baby is held for some periods of time by the cuddlers,” says
Evelyn. The cuddle program is made up of about 70 volunteers who are always on
hand to lend a hand to the nurses and babies in the NICU. “We help the nurses
with feeding and changing diapers taking temperature. W e also do the wash, the
laundry for all the blankets clothing etc that’s used in the NICU,” Evelyn says.
Despite all of their responsibilities Evelyn says cuddling these babies back to
health is the most precious chore of all. “It’s wonderful and you can get
attached. You can grow very attached. I’ve shed many a tear as even though I was
happy the baby was going home you see them again.” The cuddlers go through an
extensive training course to learn how to safely handle the babies in the NICU.
Cuddle training includes several classroom hours and four to six weeks of hands
on training at The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. To learn how you
can become a cuddler you can contact the Lee Memorial Volunteer Services office
at 239-432-3055.
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