TTMF Opens New Family Resource Room
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Melinda Kay Ronn
917-743-7836 / mronn@ttmf.org
THE TINY MIRACLES FOUNDATION, IN CONJUNCTION WITH ST. VINCENT’S MEDICAL CENTER, OPENED A NEW FAMILY RESOURCE ROOM WITH A RIBBON CUTTING ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST
TTMF’s ribbon cutting ceremony at St. Vincent’s, from left to right, Dr. William Cusick (SVMC Chair of OB/GYN), Melissa Melendez (SVMC Nurse Manager), Dr. Joseph Vitterito (SVMC Head Neonatologist), Marisela Esposito (TTMF Board President), and SVMC President & CEO Dawn Rudolph.
Darien, CT – March 4, 2019: In an effort to provide valuable resources and a place for respite for parents of premature babies in the NICU, The Tiny Miracles Foundation (TTMF) in partnership with St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, officially opened the Family Resource Room at the hospital with a ribbon cutting that took place on Thursday, February 21st.
The new Family Resource Room at St. Vincent’s provides much needed respite for families with a preemie in the NICU. Since parent’s spend most of their time at the hospital to be with their newborns in Intensive Care, the Resource Room brings a touch of home for families to unwind, watch TV, grab a snack and have a place to rest. The Family Resource Room also contains educational materials and resources regarding the journey of having a baby in the NICU while also serving as a private area for parents to confer with physicians.
It is the 5th resource room The Tiny Miracles Foundation has opened with their partner hospitals.
Executive Director of The Tiny Miracles Foundation, George Colabella, says, “The Tiny Miracles Foundation is so pleased to bring this Resource Room to St. Vincent’s Medical Center. It is a natural complement to the full continuum of services, programs, and assistance the organization provides to the most vulnerable members of the community.”
TTMF provides an array of direct services to families in Connecticut’s Fairfield County and beyond. Whether it’s bedside mentoring by trained volunteers who have travelled the same NICU journey; emotional support by TTMF’s Director of Family Services; the Tiny Treasures program (which includes bonding dolls and blankets to cover isolettes for help in the baby’s development); or the Financial Assistance Program (FAP) that provides everything from gas cards and parking passes so that parents can visit their babies in the NICU, breast pumps so moms can provide their fragile babies with “liquid gold,” baby necessities like car seats and strollers, to prominent help with utility, rent and mortgage payments; the Foundation provides for families in need with the unexpected birth of their fragile preemie.
The Tiny Miracles Foundation (TTMF) is a nonprofit charity based in Fairfield County, Connecticut dedicated to helping families with premature babies through compassionate care and support. Their services and programs are provided in the neonatal units of Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, and Danbury Hospitals and at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, their newest partnership. The Tiny Miracles Foundation is a non-profit organization that reaches over 1,200 preemie families in Fairfield County, CT and beyond.
Also in attendance was the Rarey family who delivered their triplets at SVMC. This family was TTMF’s first family mentored at SVMC. The children’s paintings adorn the walls of the resource room. Plans are to add more family’s paintings to the wall each year.
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