Book Drive Benefits Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Awareness
From left, Amanda Perry, student in the Master of Science in speech-language pathology, Raquel Garcia, assistant professor of the Department of Speech Language Pathology, and Vanessa Lewinsky, student in the Master of Science in speech-language pathology.
September was Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) awareness month. The NICU is a critical care unit that services premature infants, as young as 21 weeks gestational age, and term infants with a variety of medical conditions. Reading to babies in the NICU has been shown to support baby’s brain growth, motoric development, and sensory experiences. Additionally, it promotes parent bonding, reduces infants/parental stress, and creates positive sensory experiences for the developing infant.
Raquel Garcia, SLP.D., CCC-SLP, CLC, CNT, BCS-S, an assistant professor in the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences Department of Speech-Language Pathology, is a trained speech-language pathologist, and certified neonatal therapist. She completed a social media drive for board books to donate to community hospitals in honor of NICU awareness month.
Garcia’s goal was to collect 30 board books in 30 days. By October 1, 2022, Garcia collected more than 250 board books in English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole. Garcia has already donated 50 board books to hospitals impacted by Hurricane Ian, Tampa General Hospital, and University Hospital on NSU’s Campus.
Interested in learning more about reading in the NICU and/or donating board books to Dr. Garcia, please email her at rw602@nova.edu.
Posted 10/23/22