Their services continue once a family is out of the NICU as well. They also have a One-on-One Mentoring Program that pairs a seasoned, graduated NICU parent with a new NICU parent, so they have a peer to talk to and get support and strength from. Their signature program is Project NICU, an in-hospital support program that helps address the educational and emotional needs of families who have experienced a delivery that results in a NICU admission. The Angel Gowns program is just one facet of this ‘yes’ organization’s repertoire: When I asked Lisa how they choose which families to help, she quickly replied, “Anybody who asks. As one donor lamented, “30 years ago, I lost my child, the hospital worker took her away from me, and I never saw her again. Over the years, Lisa and her “team” – one full-time staff member who is the Program Facilitator – have heard hundreds and hundreds of stories from gown donors. We give bereaved families a voice – the okay to say ‘this was my child and s/he counted and mattered.’” “What that tells us is that there is a huge need for families to be able to engage with people who will listen to what they are saying about their experiences and who will care for those families in a thoughtful, emotionally sound way. We actually had to do some things to the site so that it could handle all the traffic!”
“We went from 20 to 30 visits to the website a day to thousands. After the story broke, their website and Facebook presence went from approximately 1,100 followers to over 20,000 followers in a matter of days. Prior to the story, families in need typically learned about the services offered by NICU Helping Hands via a social worker or physician who knew about them. James’ story, “Volunteers make gowns for babies who never make it home” went live back in March, no one – not even Lisa – could have predicted how incredible the response would be. She was kind enough to carve out time from her already over-loaded schedule to answer a few questions about the organization. Please see these links to find the regional organizers.Even in the midst of her preparation for a big fundraiser, I had the pleasure of getting to speak with the Director and Founder of NICU Helping Hands, Lisa Grubbs. There are many tasks you can take on even if you cannot sew, such as collecting and delivering dresses.
Volunteer seamstresses are very welcome to contact their provincial organizer and wedding dress donations are much appreciated. Since then groups have been started in several other provinces and you can get involved and support the movement. The Saskatchewan group surpassed 1,500 members in only a few weeks.
On May 14 the CBC wrote an article about her group and on May 26 she appeared on the CTV Morning show. It grew from there with astonishing speed. When Becky shortly after experienced her own tragic loss of a child, she did not want to send her own wedding dress to Texas, but instead reached out locally and quickly found seamstresses and received donated dresses. In February 2014 they talked about the NICU Helping Hands and that it would be great to have something like it in Canada. In Canada, the movement started with Becky Panter from Saskatchewan who is part of the Regina General Hospital NICU group. Several countries already had very active movements that are often referred to as “Angel Dresses”. These gowns are prepared by volunteers and given as a gift to bereaved families, most often through hospitals or funeral homes. Donated wedding gowns are used to sew lovely gowns for babies who have died too early. Across Canada people have come together to support bereaved parents by donating time and wedding dresses to provide baby gowns to grieving families.
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