Moms with newborn babies and their families will be better served during their hospital stays at UHNBC as a result of a million-dollar Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation donation that will pay for the expansion of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
The Pederson family of Prince George donated the money in memory of their mother Carol Bajkov, a dedicated longtime volunteer at the foundation’s annual Festival of Trees fundraiser.
In addition to the Pederson family donation, more than $400,000 was raised from the foundation’s annual fundraising efforts, including the 30th annual Festival of Trees which wrapped up in early December.
“It was a big project but with Festival of Trees celebrating 30 years we wanted to do something that was going to have an impact for generations, because festival has had an impact for generations,” said Aimee Cassie, Spirit of the North’s executive director.
“When we met with the family and they wanted to give this gift, everything aligned and so we were able to fully fund that request very quickly.”
The combined donations will allow UHNBC to double its neonatal capacity from the current nine rooms. The money will also buy neonatal equipment, such as the Giraffe OmniBed incubator/radiant warmer, and pay for new beds in all the rooms.
“We do service the entire region. so having nine beds for our neonatal intensive care unit is not enough for the entire northern half of the province – this addition is huge for the north and our littlest patients,” said Cassie.
The rooms are adjacent to the maternity ward and provide overnight accommodations for moms and their babies and some of the rooms will be built with enough space for families of twins. The donations will fund renovations to build a new family room with kitchen and laundry facilities and create an outdoor rooftop patio where moms confined to the hospital can catch a breath of fresh air.
“Often families are there two or three or six weeks at a time so we wanted to create some family space there that will allow a family to cook a meal and do laundry and watch TV and have a shower – just some normality again in really trying circumstances,” said Cassie.
“We asked the nurses on the ground in NICU what they were missing and they said family space and suggested they give up their staff room to create a patio. They were happy to give that up to give patients what they really need.”
For last year’s Festival of Trees at the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre, organizers renamed the kids activity workshop, Carol’s Corner. Her name will be displayed in the neonatal ward to reflect her contributions to making the festival fundraiser a success.
Prior to her death last year, Bajkov ran a daycare facility and donating her time every year to organize the Kids Corner craft activity centre that kept kids occupied during the festival.
“Carol used to run our children’s workshop and we called her the quiet heart of festival, she was there at every turn, planned festival all year long, she was the epitome of a truly wonderful person,” said Cassie.
“Kids were her passion and so when this project came up right when we were looking what we could do to remember Carol it worked out so beautifully it just made you think Carol had her hand in it for sure.”
