Hall of Hope at St. Luke’s Magic Valley provides support to NICU families
The Hall of Hope features former NICU babies holding their picture from the day they were admitted to the NICU.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Having your child be born and rushed into the NICU can be scary for parents, but now, one hall on the labor and delivery floor is meant to bring parents a little bit of hope.
“Lincoln, he is our wild child, he is very energetic, and loves to jump off of everything,” said Kausha Thomas, whose twin sons were in the NICU after they were born.
When Kausha Thomas’ twin boys were born, they had to spend more than 20 days in the NICU, so when the St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation approached the photographer and mother to help with the Hall of Hope project, it was a no-brainer for her.
“When we were in the NICU, I reached out to every person that I knew that had a NICU baby to just ask them questions, and you are just scared, your little, teeny baby is in, it’s not the same experience, and so I wished that I would’ve had something like this to look at when I was walking into the NICU every day,” said Thomas.
The Hall of Hope features former NICU babies holding their picture from the day they were admitted to the NICU.
Doctor Scott Knight, the Medical Director of the NICU at St. Luke’s Magic Valley, says the Hall of Hope is meant to do exactly what the name says.
“Some of them are really really tiny, some of them are very premature, and then the after to show hey look, even the little tiny teeny babies can come out, they do well, they live normal happy lives, and do very well, to kind of help the parents realize that it is scary to have a baby in the NICU, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Dr. Scott Knight, the medical director at the NICU.
During this prematurity awareness month, Doctor Knight says 10% to 15% of babies are born and need to go to the NICU.
Both Thomas and Knight say they know this wall will provide hope to families while their babies are getting support in the NICU.
“I think that it’s scary, you go in and you don’t have that same experience that other mother’s do in postpartum, that was the scariest thing being in postpartum and you don’t have your baby, then you go over and you look at your baby and they are in this little incubator hooked up on all these monitors, and you are so scared to pick them up and you just think to yourself, they will never be a normal baby, they’ll never come home,” said Thomas.
But the Hall of Hope shows that they do.
Copyright 2023 KMVT. All rights reserved.
