VOLUNTEER KNOWS ALL ABOUT PREEMIES.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Her name is Katie Katie may refer to: In sports:
A week later, she was down to one pound, nine ounces. For three months, the baby fought for life in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit Noun 1. neonatal intensive care unit - an intensive care unit designed with special equipment to care for premature or seriously ill newborn NICU ICU, intensive care unit - a hospital unit staffed and equipped to provide intensive care - fought so hard that nurse Beth Heetland gave up her days off to come in to care for her. ``She was so sick, so very, very tiny with so many complications that we didn't think she was going to make it,'' says Heetland, now the team leader of the Van Nuys hospital's pediatric pediatric /pe·di·at·ric/ (pe?de-at´rik) pertaining to the health of children. pe·di·at·ric adj. Of or relating to pediatrics. intensive care unit. But she did make it, and now Katie Stolarski is back to say thank you. One day a week, she volunteers in the same intensive care unit where she beat the odds 23 years ago. Four days a week, she's taking college classes studying to be a nurse. She knows exactly where she wants to work when she graduates from a nursing program in about three years. Right here in the neonatal intensive care unit where it all started for her when she weighed two pounds, and wasn't supposed to make it. With all the babies that have gone through this unit in 23 years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time staffers remember Katie and her parents, Gloria and David, like it was yesterday because you always remember the special ones, they say. ``No matter how dark it got, her parents had such a positive attitude that it affected all of us,'' Heetland said. ``We started to believe she would make it, too.'' Katie was an inspiration to the whole staff, agreed Dr. Laurence Shaw, one of the neonatologists who cared for her 23 years ago. ``We put in a lot of time and work to have these babies survive, and it's so gratifying grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. to see them grown up and doing so well.'' If the unit has a poster child for success, it's Katie Stolarski, he said. She can't wait for the day when she becomes a nurse and can start paying back this hospital and its staff for what they did for her and her family so many years ago, Katie says. She thinks she has something special to offer all those worried parents with babies fighting for life in the neonatal intensive care unit as she did. ``I can tell them to look at me,'' Katie says. ``I was where their baby is right now. I can give them encouragement and hope.'' She already has, says Lydia Berrera, who was one of the neonatal neonatal /neo·na·tal/ (ne?o-nat´'l) pertaining to the first four weeks after birth. ne·o·na·tal adj. Of or relating to the first 28 days of an infant's life. intensive care nurses caring for Katie 23 years ago, and now works in the labor and delivery unit. Last Friday, Lydia asked Katie for a favor. There was a young mother in pre-term labor having a hard time. She was depressed, worried about her baby's health and future being born premature. ``I took Katie into her room and introduced them,'' Lydia said. ``I told her here was living proof that preemies not only survive, they thrive.'' Sometimes, when things are quiet in the unit and it's not too busy, she spends some extra time with the babies, Katie says. If they're crying, she'll comfort them. If they're sleeping, she'll just sit there and talk to them awhile a·while adv. For a short time. Usage Note: Awhile, an adverb, is never preceded by a preposition such as for, but the two-word form a while may be preceded by a preposition. . Tell them to keep fighting because they're going to make it. She did. Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Valley Presbyterian Hospital volunteer Katie Stolarski plans to someday some·day adv. At an indefinite time in the future. Usage Note: The adverbs someday and sometime express future time indefinitely: We'll succeed someday. Come sometime. work as a nurse in the neonatal nurse where she was cared for 23 years ago. In the background are her mother, Gloria, and Dr. Laurence Shaw. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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