Bringing patients, staff & parents together at UMC NICU Reunion

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A moment of shared relief and triumph on Saturday, as families of children who spent time in the UMC NICU came together for a special reunion.

Having a child or being a child in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is not easy, so this reunion brings dozens of families together, to celebrate how far these former patients have come.

Patients who have passed away were also honored and remembered.

Doctors and nurses attended the event; to see and speak with the kids they helped nurse back to health.

Kelsie Hatchett is one of those nurses and she says she loves to be able to see the kids just be kids.

“As a nurse that works bedside with these patients and these tiny babies, seeing come from the smallest patients in their toughest moments to running and playing and talking to us, is just the most gratifying feeling. You really can’t put it into words. For me as a nurse and for all of us as a staff to be able to kind of see how our work pays off and what it looks like down the road.”

Our own Abner Euresti served as Master of Ceremonies for the event.