BELLEVUE, Wash. — Some people rise to the role of hero. Others are born fighters. You’ll find both types at Bellevue’s Overlake Medical Center.
Just in time for May the Fourth, the unofficial Stars Wars holiday, nurses and volunteers in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit use “The Force” to uplift tiny patients and their families. They’re delivering cozy Star Wars-themed outfits to the infants in their care, dressing them up for photos and bringing smiles to every room they visit.
“We look forward to these days like you can’t imagine,” said nurse manager Melissa Ramirez.
Nurses like Ramirez and Tabitha Loghin, who are making the rounds together, are bringing light - and light sabers - to new families facing the kind of relentless stress that comes with premature birth or other newborn health challenges.
“Anxiety, and grief, and sadness, and excitement all rolled into one,” Ramirez said. “That’s kind of the life of a NICU parent.”
“It’s our first baby,” said Krisha Singson, the mother of two-week old Lila. “She came two months early, and we didn’t know what to expect.”
Today, "Princess" Lila becomes a Jedi.
“It’s a nice little break from everything,” said her father, Jacob Nunez.
Just three pounds at birth, Lila has already shown her fighting spirit. Now she has the outfit to match.
“She looks adorable,” Nunez added.
“One size kind of fits all,” explained volunteer Gail Hashagen.
Hashagen makes the dozens of tiny robes for all the little Lukes and Leias.
“I just enjoy helping the nurses and helping everybody here at Overlake,” Hashagen said. “And helping the families, and seeing them be happy with their babies.”
Every newborn gets the outfit of their choice, with a little room to grow.
Hashagen added, “I think it brings a little bit of joy to their life.”
The smiles, the photos, all bring a sense of normalcy, sending stress and worry to a galaxy far, far away.
“That’s what we like to do,” Loghin said.
Ramirez added, “It brings me great joy.”
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