Big Steps for Little Feet 2023 honorees Mila Simoe, shown front right with her mom, Whitney, and Ava Sosnowski, front left with her mom Ashley, gather with MMC NICU team members, including Big Steps Committee Chair Kirstin Chaparro, holding the ceremonial check at left, and, at right, Dr. Meera Kale, medical director of the NICU. Also pictured are at right Chief Nursing Officer Darla Harmer, President & CEO Eric Carney, fifth from left, and Chair of Pediatrics Dr. Jonathan Teitelbaum, center at podium.
Long Branch, N.J. – Monmouth Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, hosted the 17th annual Big Steps for Little Feet Fall Fest fund-raiser benefitting the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on Sunday, October 15. More than 200 attendees gathered at the Long Branch Middle School gymnasium for pumpkin picking, carnival games, music and sweet treats.
The event is made possible by the dedicated Big Steps Committee, which is led by NICU nurse Kristin Chaparro, and features a gathering of families whose babies were cared for in the NICU. MMC Chief Nursing Officer Darla Harmer told participants that the generosity of the community and sponsors allows Monmouth Medical Center to continually provide the latest essential intensive treatment for critically ill babies within the region.
“Our NICU, which celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, is a very special place created at Monmouth Medical Center for our tiniest, most fragile patients to receive constant monitoring and 24-hour care,” she said. “We are so grateful for the community’s support of this event, which continues to grow year after year. A special thank you to all of our wonderful NICU families who have joined us here today; the bond that is created between these families and our nurses and doctors is truly remarkable.”
Opened in 1968, MMC’s NICU was the first of its kind in New Jersey and among the first six offered at community hospitals nationally. Today it remains among the best rated NICUs nationally, thanks to a combination of the most sophisticated technology and the expertise of a small army of highly trained caregivers.
More than 10 percent of babies born in the U.S. are premature. Over the last 17 years, Big Steps for Little Feet teams and supporters have enabled Monmouth Medical Center to purchase state-of-the-art medical equipment to care for the region’s smallest and most fragile babies.
“Our NICU treats more than 500 newborns each year, but its focus is also on parents, who are often here with their babies for extended periods of four to eight weeks or more,” Harmer said. “Family comfort is a top priority for our NICU, which is evident through the conversations with parents whose children spent a significant time there. The one thing they always seem to remember is despite how difficult this time was, how positive the experience turned out to be, due to the unit’s extraordinary caregivers.”
This year’s walk honored two former Monmouth Medical Center NICU patients, Mila Simoe, who weighed 1 pound 4 ounces and was 12 inches long when she was born January 25, 2021, at 25 weeks and 4 days, and Ava Sosnowski, who weighed 2 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 14.5 inches when she was born prematurely on April 30, 2021. Mila was discharged after nearly four months in the NICU, and Ava following a 66-day stay. (Click here to read more about Mila’s and Ava’s journeys.)
The Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Foundation Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is uniquely equipped to meet the needs of infants like Mila and Ava who are born too early or too small, or who require special care or surgery. The Unterberg Children’s Hospital’s board-certified neonatologists and nursing team specialize in family-centered treatment, providing a multidisciplinary experience to give each baby their best fighting chance to thrive, while offering comfort and convenience for families.
Donations are being accepted for Big Steps until December 31st and can be made by visiting give.classy.org/bigstepsmmc.
Contact: Kathy Horan
(732) 546-6317
Kathy.Horan@rwjbh.org