Christmas came early Wednesday morning at Bryan Health’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Santa Clause paid a visit to each room and brought gifts for the littlest patients and their families and was assisted by a NICU nurse dressed as an elf.
Jolly Old Saint Nick took time out of his busy schedule to speak with KLIN News about bringing joy to each family “It’s just really special to bring the magic of Christmas to them, especially to the little ones since it’s their first Christmas,” Santa says. “Just being here and bringing the magic of the North Pole just does wonders.”
Alex White is a nurse that cares for the babies and says this day has become a holiday tradition. “It’s so nice to see the parents light up, all the staff lights up, it just bring a little bit of holiday and fun to the NICU.”
She calls what she does the best job ever. “Just spending that extra time with them because we know it’s a long journey and it’s a lot on the parents,” White says. “Mental health is really important so anything we can do to be family to them is very important to us too. It’s really fulfilling.”
Faith Niles gave birth to her son Bo three months ago, but he was supposed to be born on January 20th. “He’s doing very well and we’re going to hopefully feeding on a bottle soon.” For parents like Faith, spending her son’s first Christmas in the hospital can be difficult, but bringing holiday cheer to the NICU helps.
White says there were no shortage of patients for Santa to visit. “Were in the 20’s right now. We were up to 30 babies for a little bit,” White says. ” Closer to the holidays if we can get some babies home we do. The NICU at Bryan Health opened in 2008 and has cared for thousands of premature babies and their families.
(Photos: Tom Stanton, KLIN News)