UHA and the March of Dimes Give Back to NICU Families

Few things are more stressful than having a child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Families can spend weeks or even months in the hospital while their newborn receives specialized, often lifesaving care. The day a baby is finally able to leave the NICU and go home with their family is a joyful occasion.

At UHA, care is at the heart of everything we do. The UHA ‘ohana developed a special company-wide initiative to show our support and celebrate this special moment for NICU families. We developed a basket decorating contest where our associates filled each basket with thoughtful items and decorated it to their team’s liking to benefit families discharged from the NICU at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children.

This special project gave associates the opportunity to support our friends at March of Dimes by presenting gift baskets to NICU families in Hawai‘i. We’re so proud of each and every one of our associates for putting care into everything they do, it’s in our culture of caring. 

UHA President & CEO Howard Lee called the gift baskets a “show of support” for NICU families, reflecting UHA’s history as a physician-led company.

“We believe it is our kuleana to keep Hawai‘i’s mothers, babies, and the whole ‘ohana healthy and well,” he said. “When you care for keiki — like the March of Dimes and Kapi‘olani do as our partners — you are caring for the whole family.”

Read on to learn more.

We’re All in This Together: Teaming up for NICU Babies

For this initiative, UHA associates teamed up to create unique care baskets filled with children’s books, baby clothes, diapers, toiletries, gift cards, and other items to help families as they cared for their little ones during their first days at home.

Each basket also included a special onesie designed by UHA associate, Savannah Owens with a unique “baby pueo” design evoking the symbolism of the pueo (owl) which represents a guardian or protector in Hawaiian culture.

“When I was first brought on to the project, it was something I resonated with right away, being a new parent. I was delighted to use my talents in support of these NICU families going through a challenging time—I was onboard 100%. If I could offer some hope, or strength, it was something worth doing.

Working together with UHA’s Well-being Committee, I produced a design for our precious baby onesie and helped coordinate the logistics for this project’s various components. Seeing everything come together was a proud moment. I’m happy to say this once “tiny project” exploded into many initiatives geared to support families and their babies.” – Savannah Owens

Teamwork and innovation was in the air as associates formed teams and collaborated with one another to produce creative basket designs. All items used to decorate and fill each basket were purchased by associates as their team’s creativity and innovation fueled their passion to serve the NICU families.

One “Noah’s Ark”-themed basket featured colorful stuffed animals and other gifts in an “ark” made of diapers. Another tower of gifts was topped by a flying stork carrying a package of books and toys.

Debuting the Baskets at the Mother of a Movement Walk

The first of many gift baskets were presented at the 54^th March for Babies: A Mother of a Movement walk on May 4^th. UHA was out in full force with over 110+ team walkers. Many of those that assembled baskets were at the walk and continued to show their support to March of Dimes and their mission to help families.

13-year-old Bodhi, son of Jennifer Barad, UHA Employer Services Manager and five-year-old Blue Vi, daughter of Anna Heimuli, UHA Executive Assistant COO, joined the basket presentation as special guests. Both keiki were cared for in the Kapi‘olani NICU as infants.

“When I had Blue— there were times in the NICU where I felt lonely—paired with being a first-time mom and not having immediate family to help. I thought about those moments when I purchased items for the basket.

When we put the basket together—I silently thought about the unknown, scary moments and thanked God for where we are today. Although, I didn’t verbally share those moments with my UHA team who put so much love into our basket—I know they could see and feel this was important for me and the NICU families the baskets would be shared with. We became a family with our NICU primary nurses and still keep in touch till this day. Providing something as simple as knitted booties, a card, onesie, or a hug—reminded me to take a break and love yourself too. Hope these baskets provided something like that for our NICU families.” – Anna Heimuli

Special Delivery to Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children

In total there were 18 baskets created and presented to Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children NICU staff.

“Kapi‘olani’s NICU cares for some of the most vulnerable babies from the entire Pacific region,” said Gidget Ruscetta, RN, the hospital’s COO. “UHA’s donated gift baskets do so much to lift the spirits of our families by showing how there’s a whole community of support for our NICU babies.”

Mahalo to our UHA ‘ohana for helping us support March of Dime and NICU families!

If you’d like to make a difference, consider supporting NICU babies and families by donating to March of Dimes or to the upcoming Kapi’olani Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon for Kids, held in September. Funds raised aid in improving the lives of children by providing medical care, lifesaving research and preventive education. Your donations stay in Hawaii to help our keiki and fund these meaningful programs. A little help can make a big difference.