Over the years, we’ve contributed to many different organizations through our Kyte Cares program. We recently announced the decision to focus our philanthropic efforts on helping newborns in the NICU, and asked our community to nominate five NICUs to each receive a $20,000 donation. After reading each and every one of your personal stories and considering the recent devastation caused by Hurricane and Hurricane Milton, we selected these five hospitals from the hundreds of nominations submitted.
1. Ryan Donald Basile Memorial Fund for NICU Families in Need at Holy Cross Hospital (Silver Spring, Maryland)
“I am Susan Basile, a neonatal nurse practitioner at Holy Cross for 37 years. When my son tragically died at 25 in 2020, a fund was established in his memory to directly support the families of babies in our NICU. This fund has raised over $130,000, and 100% of it goes directly to parents who are underserved in our community. The money helps these families come to the NICU by way of Uber gift cards when they do not have a car of their own, helps families acquire supplies that they need at home, like furniture and car seats, and also has helped some families with funeral expenses when their baby has sadly passed away.”
2. Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (St. Petersburg, Florida)
“When our state hospital told us our daughter wouldn’t survive due to a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, we were desperate for alternatives. After extensive research, we found Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, where their lead surgeon has dedicated his career to this condition. After 58 days in their hospital, our daughter came home healthy, with no neurological issues, and is now thriving beyond developmental milestones.”
3. Cook Children’s (Fort Worth, Texas)
“After being born 6 weeks early and spending 3 weeks in another wonderful NICU, my son was transferred to Cook Children’s to undergo brain surgery at 3.5 weeks old. During this time, my son also had a rare cardiac event, which led to more medical testing. As brand new parents already struggling with a NICU stay, these were some of the scariest moments of our lives. Through all of that, the nurses, doctors, social workers, and more cared for us in ways I couldn’t have imagined. They talked with us, prayed with us, encouraged us. Nurses came by to check on our son when they were assigned to him. When we were discharged, several of his doctors came by his room to celebrate the milestone. Additionally, this NICU serves families from all across Texas. Many families on our hall were from several hours away. The care they showed families, providing meals, showers, hygiene products, and more were beyond what I could imagine.”
4. East Tennessee Children’s Hospital (Knoxville, Tennessee)
“I am nominating ETCH NICU as a mom and healthcare provider. I work at ETCH as a neurosurgery PA. Daily, I see the needs of the local community and the entire East Tennessee region. Our NICU serves people from Tennessee, the Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia. A lot of our hospital relies on donations to make this possible.”
5. Ascension Providence Hospital (Waco, Texas)
“I am a labor and delivery nurse at Ascension Providence in Waco. [...] At Ascension Providence, our nursery became licensed as a level 2 NICU less than 3 years ago. During this time I have watched courageous men and women fight to provide safe equipment and monitoring to improve the stay of every little one we meet. I love that we are constantly working to improve the care we provide. I’ve seen supplies transformed to meet NICU needs in a post pandemic world, where shortages are normal. I have seen creative nurses sew and scrapbook and bring materials from home to make the sterile hospital feel more like home. When I think of $20,000, I think wow! What would we do with it? Would we ensure our emergency department has updated neonatal resuscitation equipment available for when a mom doesn’t make it up to labor and delivery? Would we finally purchase that camera and printer we’ve so often talked about so we can have mementos of babies first, and sometimes last, milestones to share with their parents? Would we finally be able to turn a space in the hospital into a Ronald McDonald room so parents from out of town can stay near their babes?”
Each of these hospitals received a $20,000 donation from Kyte Baby, for a total of $100,000 given toward supplies, equipment, and care services in their NICU wards. Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital were selected to aid hurricane relief efforts. We were so touched to read the hundreds of submissions, and we are incredibly honored to partner with other NICUs every month in this new chapter of Kyte Cares.
