Thanks to an anonymous donation, the Veteran Parent Program is up and running again at Health Sciences Centre (HSC) and St. Boniface Hospital.

The program – which was put on hold nearly 10 years ago – connects parents whose babies are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with volunteers who have gone through the same experience and can relate to them and help them with whatever they need.

Holly Marie’s daughter was born seven weeks early with a congenital heart defect and a congenital tracheal defect.

Her, her newborn daughter, her husband and four other children are into their 89th day in the NICU.

Marie's daughter was born seven weeks early (Submitted: WRHA)She says this program will help people like her and her family.

“Your birth experience is the idea that they’ll be placed on your chest and you’ll bond with them,” Marie said. “But to have my child taken away and removed from the room because she was in distress was very traumatic.”

“It was 15 minutes before I actually got off the table and walked in there for the first time to see her but it felt like years.”

Marie says the support she received from nurses and doctors was incredible but she knew they had to focus most of their efforts on her daughter. She says speaking with other mothers in the NICU was one of the main things that kept her strong.

“Nobody can understand what you’re going through like a mom who went through it,” Marie said. “I think what mothers and families who have been through it can offer to new families is a sense of hope. They can say ‘I have been here and I am still here. We’ve been here, we’ve done this, we’ve survived and you will to.’”

Karen Netzel is the coordinator of NICU Veteran Parents and says volunteer training is expected to begin in May. Volunteers will go through an interview and education sessions before they are ready to meet with other parents.

Netzel had a premature baby and says this program is important because it gives the parents much needed support while allowing medical staff to focus on the child’s health.

“It’s parent-to-parent support,” Netzel said. “Only veteran parents know what this is like. A veteran parent can look you in the eye and say ‘I know how you feel’ and that does mean a lot to parents because there’s power in shared experience.

“That’s why we need veteran parents, because they understand.”

Andrea Wiebe is the coordinator of the Veteran Parent Program for St. Boniface Hospital. She also had a premature baby who spent time in the NICU and believes this program will help people feel like they aren’t alone.

“It’s very isolating to be a parent of a baby in the NICU,” Wiebe said. “It’s different talking to someone who has had a similar experience to yours.”

Wiebe says the training will focus on teaching volunteers how to talk to people, how to listen and how to be respectful of different ways of doing things, because their views of parenting may differ from the views of the patient.

She also encourages both mothers and fathers to volunteer.

"I think we’ll get a lot of mothers but This is an experience fathers have to," Wiebe said. "It’s just as important for them to have someone to connect to who has had an experience similar to theirs." 

People interested in volunteering at HSC can contact Netzel at 204-787-7178. Those who want to volunteer at St. Boniface Hospital can contact Wiebe at 204-237-2994.