December 10, 2013 – Dublin, Ohio: The Dublin Foundation gathered to present a check to the Ohio Health Dublin Methodist Hospital. These grant funds will support the hospital’s Baby Bond Project, a program designed to help parents and other family members form strong, early attachments which are important to the emotional and neural development of new infants. The Dublin Foundation Board including President Cap Clegg, Marlen Mathias, Lynn May and Executive Director Stacey Kuzda joined Diane Haskamp, the Corporate and Foundation Relations Coordinator for Ohio Health, and others in a simple ceremony to launch this new program at the Dublin Methodist Hospital.
Diane Haskamp describes the Baby Bond project as a combination of best practices gathered from current research and clinical experience. Proper infant attachments are most easily formed between new infants and parents, siblings, grandparents, etc., in a quiet environment free from other distractions. Touch and holding, eye contact, speaking in a high-pitched voice, and rocking motion have all been associated with improved bonding and infant development. Infants spend their first days in a busy hospital environment, which can make such bonding more difficult. The funds granted by the Dublin Foundation will enable Ohio Health to provide several rocking chairs for quiet areas set aside for new families by the Dublin Methodist Hospital. Built to meet stringent hospital codes for structural integrity and fire-retardant, sanitizable materials, such rocking chairs are more expensive than the average household rocker.
Ohio Health’s Dublin Methodist Hospital seeks to help patients successfully overcome challenges bonding with their newborn infants; improve patient/infant care and outcomes; and to ensure that every new parent has the opportunity to use the rockers provided by this grant as part of a holistic baby bonding program. The Dublin Foundation supports this project as one that will make a long-term, positive impact on the greater Dublin area, noting that Dublin Methodist Hospital serves many low-income families who will benefit from the Baby Bond Project.
From Left to Right:
From the Dublin Foundation: Stacey Kuzda, Executive Director, Cap Clegg, President; Marlen Mathias, Board Member and Lynn May, Board Member.
From Ohio Health: Lisa Biegler, RN, BSN, MBA (chief nursing officer); Sherrie Valentine, RNC, BS (director of OB and women’s health services); Katy Trombitas (development director); and Bruce P. Hagen (regional executive and president, Dublin Methodist Hospital and Grady Memorial Hospital).