NICU outreach ministry...

[jargan]

a couple at my church has a compassion ministry and they want to include the nicu. they want to be able to communicate or at least send cards to the families, especially those who do not have families and are not receiving any encouragement and visits. they would also like to be able to adopt families or at least give gas vouchers to those families that need it. does anyone have anything like this in their nicu? if so, how do you do it. how do you get around hippa, etc to be able to help these families. i think it is a great idea, i am just hoping to hear some success stories for something like this before i go to my nurse manager.

thank you for your help,

stephanie

[hikernurse]

We have a lot of groups that donate gifts to our unit. We don't have a specific group offering ministry services, but it sounds like patient privacy might not be a problem. Giving gas cards with a simple note would be appropriate and not require pt information.

Actually we do have a church group that prays for our patients individually (and I assume as a population). Parents have the option of filling out a form giving out as much info as they want--"baby Nevaeh, preterm", for example. Parents are neither encouraged nor discouraged from doing this, it is merely an option.

Social work would be in charge of overseeing this where I work. Talking to them might be a good idea, too.