Members of the Women's Auxiliary of the Churches of Scientology recently delivered 100 hand-crocheted infant caps and blankets and handmade quilts to Garfield Medical Center in Monterey Park, California. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Director Lisa Marquez gratefully accepted the caps and blankets for babies in the NICU. The caps and blankets help premature infants regulate their body temperature, a bodily function that is undeveloped when babies are born prematurely.
Auxiliary member Carol Austin, project chair, announced the project recently at a meeting of the Women's Auxiliary, and more than a dozen ladies participated from across the country. Care was taken to use non-allergenic yarn and to keep the caps away from fragrances while being crocheted, because the infants' immune systems may be weaker until released from NICU. The hats were color-coded to indicate the head size, and ranged from orange- to grapefruit-sized to accommodate the varying sizes of newborns in the hospital.
NICU Director Lisa Marquez said approximately 4,000 infants are born at Garfield Hospital each year, but not all infants are seen in NICU. They take care of babies that are born premature, have complications during delivery, or are born with life-threatening illnesses that don't require major surgery. They have a transport team that brings newborns requiring intensive care to Garfield from other hospitals in the surrounding area. The smallest surviving infant they've cared for weighed 15 ounces at birth - less than one pound. She said of her unit, "We have the best nurses. Families like to return here to have their babies (even with full-term and uncomplicated births) because they develop a great relationship with our team."
Scientology churches are well-known leaders in community service and social reform activities including drug education, literacy, drug- and criminal-rehabilitation and human rights education programs. For further information on the Auxiliary and its activities, contact (818) 890-9706.
For further information on Garfield Medical Center, contact (626) 573-2222.
Sandee Furman is the spokesperson for the Churches of Scientology Women's Auxiliary