NICU Family Supports

This is an Akron Children's Hospital video about the experiences of families with patient children in the neonatal intensive care unit. The emotional, physical and financial burden on these families is immense. It is vital that families be provided at the hospitals just as the patients. The parents and sibilings need comfortable soothing settings for their time with patients. Unfortunately these families cannot spend 24/7 in the presence of their patient children. However, the majority of their time is spent in the hospital. As a result, they need comfortable areas to wait including sitting areas, sleeping areas and meeting areas. The brothers and sisters of patients need play areas to occupy their hours. At the same time families need space, supplies and equipment to communicate the condition, growth and personalities of their patient children to friends and family who cannot come to the hospital. These needs cannot be met by many monetary gifts to hospitals due to the restrictions placed by the entity giving the gift. The Jackson Graves Foundation recognizes this void. It is dedicated to neonatal care with a focus on projects with a potential for high impact that may not otherwise be funded or considered. A major project for the Foundation is raising funds to construct and furnish a private patient room and to build and equip a sibling play area in the Arkansas Children's Hospital NICU. I drive ACH on my way to work every day. Each morning you can see the toll the stay at the hospital is taking on these families. It is imperative that we do something to ease that stress. Therefore, my goal in training for Ironman Louisville is to finish but more importantly to raise the necessary money for the Jackson Graves Foundation to meet their goal of funding these projects. I will have more on this as we progress in the next few days. For now go over to www.jacksongraves.com. Read Jackson story and then pledge to join me in this journey.