Families of NICU graduates gather to thank UAB’s compassionate care team.

The holiday season is a time for celebration, but it is also a time for gratitude and thankfulness. This year, three families returned to UAB Hospital and UAB St. Vincent’s to personally deliver a “Gift of Gratitude” to their care team.

While all three families spent time in a neonatal intensive care unit, each has their own unique journey. The families traveled from across Alabama to surprise their care team with a holiday gift they will not forget.

The England Twins

Jade and Taylor England were born at 26 weeks’ gestation, weighing under 2 pounds, in October of 1999. They spent 87 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at UAB St. Vincent’s.

Their mother, Tara Wood, remembers not being able to hold her babies for several weeks. Wood’s lifeline to her girls was the nurses and nurse practitioners. After the experience, she realized she wanted to pursue a nursing career to provide similar support to other families.

Wood pursued two of her nursing degrees at the UAB School of Nursing, where she is currently an assistant professor teaching future nurses and neonatal nurse practitioners how to care for infants and families. Both the twins, now 25 years old, graduated from UAB. Jade works as a nurse in the UAB Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit, and Taylor works as a recruiter for the UAB School of Health Professions.

“The health care team at UAB St. Vincent’s provided excellent care for the twins and our entire family. I want them all to know that what they do every single day makes a difference,” Wood said. “From just one single family encounter, so many lives are changed. They are making an impact in far more ways than they will ever know. We will never be able to thank them enough.”

The family surprised Dean Bruce, M.D., neonatologist and NICU medical director, and nurses Lisa Costa and Tammy Hall from their care team at UAB St. Vincent’s.

The Emfingers

In March of 2002, Ellen Emfinger went into premature labor with her second child at 28 weeks’ gestation. The Emfingers lived in Valley, a rural town in east Alabama with no high-risk obstetric providers. An ambulance rushed Ellen to UAB Hospital, almost three hours away.

Less than 48 hours later, Cynthia Brumfield, M.D., a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, delivered John. He spent close to two months in the UAB Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit and Continuing Care Nursery being cared for by the neonatology team. The Emfingers were finally reunited at home on Memorial Day weekend.

John, now 22 years old, is an electrical lineman and recently married. Ellen is in her 27th year as a school librarian. The family surprised Brumfield and their neonatologist, Wally Carlo, M.D., co-director of the UAB Division of Neonatology.

“We were so excited to have the opportunity to personally extend a heartfelt thank you for the fantastic care my son and I received while at UAB under the care of Dr. Brumfield and Dr. Carlo,” Ellen said. “To make this visit extra special, Dr. Carlo sat and talked for over an hour and wanted to know all about where John was in his life journey. Dr. Carlo truly cares about his patients, even years after they have graduated from his care.”

The Jones Triplets

At a routine high-risk obstetrics appointment, Heather Jones, who was pregnant with triplets, learned she was 4-5 centimeters dilated at only 25 weeks’ gestation. Richard Davis, M.D., maternal-fetal medicine specialist, quickly admitted Heather to the hospital, where she received a pessary to hopefully prolong the pregnancy.

Over the next few weeks, Davis and the high-risk obstetrics team monitored Heather and the pessary with the goal of getting the babies further along before delivery. Through their help, Heather carried the triplets to 34 weeks’ gestation. Chloe, Bankston and Kennedy Jones were born in July 2012. They stayed in the CCN for only 13 days.

Through her experience at UAB, Heather decided to join the team as a nurse in the CCN. She is currently a charge nurse on the unit and has worked at UAB Women and Infants Center for a decade. The triplets are now 12 years old and enjoying life as middle school students. The family surprised Davis along with Carlo, who was one of their neonatologists.

“We came in at 24 weeks and were able to make it to 34 weeks before delivering because of the interventions Dr. Davis wanted to try,” Jones said. “I know that our outcome could have been very different. There are no words to thank him enough for his part in our story.”