EVERY HERO NEEDS A CAPE
NICU nurse helps bring smiles to nervous parents
Not all superheroes are created on the pages of comic books.
Some are born in the neonatal ward of the Jewish General Hospital, where the tiniest of human life forms precariously cling to life in incubators while doctors and nurses hover about.
It’s also where the unlikeliest of superheroes are born, wee ones like Benjamin Korres, who was born eight weeks premature to first-time parents Michelle Campbell and Chris Korres of PointeClaire.
Benjamin weighed a mere four pounds, six ounces at birth, so he did not go home as planned with Mom and Dad after his March 10 birthday.
He spent about three weeks in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) before he was deemed healthy enough to leave.
But Campbell will never forget what she saw during a visit to the hospital that moved her to tears.
“We were coming to visit Benjamin and hanging by his incubator on an IV pole we saw a tiny felt Superman cape. But instead of the Superman ‘S’ on it, it had the letter ‘B’ stitched on it, his initial.”
Campbell, who’d been on an emotional roller-coaster since giving birth, couldn’t hold back her feelings.
“It was a great surprise to us obviously. We weren’t expecting to see anything there. It just had a note attached that said, ‘To our little superhero, Love Stephanie T.’ ”
That would be Stephanie Treherne, a nurse who’s taken it upon herself to make tiny superman capes for intensive care babies at the Jewish General who find themselves, through fate, outside the waiting arms of their anxious parents at birth.
Treherne, a recent graduate of McGill’s Ingram School of Nursing, hopes the gesture eases the nerves of parents who are coping with the fact their baby is lying in intensive care.
“It’s just a little something that brings a little bit of comfort and reassurance (to parents) and maybe a change in perception that while it is scary, your baby is strong, your baby is going to work through this . ... These babies really are like superheroes.”
But spending time in the NICU, even for short periods, can be very stressful for parents, Campbell said.
“There’s a lot going on there, a lot of beeps and machines and tubes. At the drop of a hat, something can go wrong. You’re never sure one day to the next, so it’s kind of nice to see something like that that shows love and compassion and it gives you hope.”
“It made us feel good to know that the staff sees these kids as something special,” Campbell added. “Every baby that’s in the NICU really has quite a journey ahead of them to be able to be discharged. It’s a lot for the parents to be visiting day in and day out. We were lucky in a sense because Benjamin was only there for three weeks and he was relatively in good health. He just was small essentially and early.”
Treherne has hand-stitched about 100 capes so far and keeps a list of all the baby names. Although many of her fellow staff members were not aware she was the unit’s cape maker, she said acts of kindness toward others have their own rewards.
“It’s nice to do,” Treherne said. “Sometimes you have bad days at work and it’s difficult and this is a reminder that what we do is very special.”
But Treherne’s compassionate gestures have apparently caught the attention of her bosses.
Lyne Charbonneau, the head nurse in NICU, said: “This gesture is not only sweet, it provides reassurance to the parents and reminds them that someone is looking out for their baby even when they are not there. It is also inspiring to see a newly graduated nurse take such an initiative.”
So, how is 11-week-old Benjamin doing since going home? He is now a bouncing baby boy of 11 pounds.
And his tiny superman cape now hangs prominently in his room, a keepsake for life.