The tiniest patients on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospital for Wales (NACHFW) have received some beautiful incubator covers to help them to have a more restful stay thanks to some generous members of the local community.
Incubator covers are designed to protect the baby from the bright hospital lights and sounds, encourage sleep and to create a homely atmosphere while the babies grow.
The parents or guardian of each tiny baby is able to choose an incubator cover to use while they are on the unit. Although families become quite attached to their baby’s cover, the quilts then usually stay in the unit, ready to help the next tiny patient.
The incubator covers help to brighten up the ward and they are really well received and a good use for quilters’ left over fabrics.
Alison Holmquist and her team of fantastic quilters recently came in to the NACHFW to hand over their beautiful creations.
Alison said: “I have been teaching Patchwork and Quilting over many years. I have quite a few students who have been coming to my classes for a while. Once they’ve made quilts for family and friends, they still want to carry on making quilts. I approached our neighbour, Avril Gowman, who was then the Senior Paediatric Nurse at the NACHFW. We cooked up a plan whereby my students could make quilts for children at the hospital and so the ‘Cwtch Quilts’ project was born.
“We were then contacted by the staff on Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at NACHFW and asked to make incubator covers.
“We don’t get to meet the babies but we sometimes get letters back from their parents saying thank you and how much it has meant to them. I know this small gesture makes a big difference.”
Michelle Phillips, Ward Manager on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University Hospital of Wales said: “I’d like to thank Alison and her team of quilters for making these beautiful incubator covers for babies on the unit. They really help our tiniest patients to rest and they add a lovely splash of colour to the unit.”
