The Boulder Community Health Foundation has partnered with Love for Lily, a Colorado non-profit that will provide support services to families with babies in neonatal intensive care at Boulder Community Health’s Foothills Hospital.
Love for Lily has been working with families since 2012 and strives to teach coping skills, build community, and provide an alternative food source so families don’t have to eat hospital cafeteria food. They have also facilitated support groups that work with families during the post-NICU phase.
“We started out in 2012 at University of Colorado Hospital, and I wanted to understand why there was no support,” said Sahra Cahoon, founder and executive director for Love for Lily. “Since then, we have served more than 4,500 families and we see the beauty of community support every day.”
Love for Lily has provided 2,985 essential bags to families during their NICU stay, directly served almost 700 families through group meetings and given out more than 25 grants to families. The non-profit focuses on building community within the unit to help ease the feeling of isolation that so many parents experience.
“It’s really magical to see,” Cahoon said. “We see moms every day supporting each other. We have moms and dads in unit, and they are really feeling this isolation at a whole new level. They can come to one of our groups and just say they’re having a hard night, and we have so many moms and dads reaching out just to offer their support. I think community support is very important.”
Love for Lily will now be funded by Boulder Community Health to increase the access parents have to resources, which became available starting April 1.
“It’s a really scary time for the parents while their baby is premature or ill,” said Lisa Allen, director of nursing for the Family Birth Center at BCH’s Foothills Hospital. “It’s important to make sure parents have the resources they need in order to take care of their family. It’s from something like, say babysitters, to transportation to health care, or any benefits that the parents may need to find resources to keep their family going.”
Boulder Community Health wants to emphasize personal connections for families during hard times.
“I know what it feels like when your baby is in one of those big rooms when it feels very impersonal,” Allen said. “Here, all the babies have their own rooms. We love the program and it’s just very important for the parents.”
The continued support that Love for Lily provides to parents is a service that many hospitals around the world do not have for parents while they are going through this difficult time.
“I got to know Love for Lily after I had my babies; I am a mother of two babies, one born 36 weeks early at Boulder Community Hospital,” said Tonushree Tayagi, a supporter of the organization. “I spent my career in health care, and so I noticed that there was a gap in services at the hospital in terms of services and support for parents going through this. It’s a hard thing interacting with parents who did not have the same difficulties.”
Love for Lily has altered their events due to the coronavirus pandemic by transitioning to online meetings through Zoom. They provide a moms’ group meeting every Tuesday, a family group meeting every Thursday, and a post-NICU group meeting every Monday. All meetings take place at 10:30 a.m.
“We are launching all of our normal services, just virtually,” said Cahoon. “We will still be offering grants to families, we will still have group and one-on-one support, and when families are discharged, they’ll have the ability to join us for post-group sessions.”
Although organizations like Love for Lily are not as common as most parents would like, it is something that parents of premature babies hope to see more of in the future.
“My son who was born at Boulder Community turned 4 last week,” Tayagi said. “It’s the best birthday present we got as a family. They provide much needed community, counseling and love during what is a really scary time for any parent. I’m so proud of their organization and how other families have access to this service.”
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April 08, 2020 at 05:21AM
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