ORANGE PARK – HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital hosted its annual NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) Reunion, an event where the hospital’s littlest survivors joined to celebrate life and reunite with caregivers. NICU clinicians looked forward to this event all year in anticipation of reuniting with the patients they cared for during their first days of life. 

The day was filled with activities for the children, including fire truck tours, face painting, games, storytelling, and a NICU room exploration station for the children to see the tiny diapers, bottles and equipment needed to care for them in the NICU. The children and staff wore their favorite superhero costumes to honor the event’s theme – NICU graduates are superheroes. 

“This is absolutely my favorite day of the year. We love getting a chance to check in with all of the families and hear how everyone is doing,” said Suzanne Jones, Director of Women and Children’s Services at HCA. “The event brings so much joy to our staff and allows families to connect with others in the area that share a similar experience.” 

Orange Park Hospital offers highly specialized care in the NICU – a nursery that provides around-the-clock care to sick or pre-term babies. As the only Level II NICU in Clay County, Orange Park Hospital provides health services for babies born as early as 32 weeks or 1,250 grams and babies born with critical illness at all gestational ages. A stay in the NICU can be caused by various reasons, including prematurity, respiratory distress, infection, low blood sugar and other conditions affecting the mother and newborn. 

“We have families that come back year after year for this reunion, and we are so thankful to celebrate the outstanding care that our NICU team provides to families in our community,” said Jones. It will be the hospital’s seventh year hosting the event.