Variety - The Children’s Charity Helps Royal Columbian Hospital Care for its Youngest Preemies and Families

Linda Flack, Manager, Heart Fund & BC Family Residence Program, Variety - The Children’s Charity (second from left) presents Barbara Becker, Director, Major Gifts, Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) Foundation (far left), Queenie Lai, Health Service Manager, RCH Variety Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) (second from right) and Dr. Vinod Kesavan, Department Head, Pediatrics, RCH, (far right) with a cheque for $136,387.83. These funds purchased two Giraffe incubators for RCH’s Variety NICU. These incubators are used for the youngest babies cared for at RCH, those between 23–25 weeks gestation. They are special because they allow care teams to keep the baby inside the incubator for difficult intubation and minor surgical procedures. And because no heat is lost when doors and portholes are opened, parents are able to have skin to skin contact with their baby without fear of compromising the baby’s carefully maintained microenvironment. This gift also supported RCH’s Maternal, Infant, Child, Youth Emergency Response Fund, which provides essentials for low-income families who have children in the Variety NICU or Pediatric Unit.