Today Carilion Children's Hospital reopened its doors to parents! Families are currently being reunited. I will share more about Chrystal and Archer tomorrow when she has him safely in her arms.

In the meantime—a HUGE thank you to everyone who supported this basic human rights issue in an uncertain time. And a reminder that this is the result of advocacy. Parents, representatives, petitioners and the community came together to give back the Power to parents in the NICU, and fight together for needed change.

The NICU ban should never have been in place to begin with and we are pleased that Carilion Children's reconsidered their unethical policy and pivoted under pressure.

We hope that other hospitals** in other states still upholding their NICU bans will take note of the arc of this story, and we ask that they are able to hear what families really need in a time like this: less trauma and more connection!

If you would like to learn more about Empowered NICU Parenting, please visit our website and sign up for updates. You can follow along on Facebook and Instagram as well, we look forward to connecting with you there!

Thank you very much!
Jacqueline Sears, MPH, CPH, CBS
Empowered NICU Parenting

Image description: Jacqueline in the NICU diapering her 20-hour old daughter, born at 25 weeks.   

**Other Hospitals with unethical rules that ban parents from the NICU:
- Northside Hospital Healthcare System with three NICUs located in Atlanta Georgia, Canton Georgia, and Cumming Georgia.
-ProHealth Care with two NICUs located in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin and Waukesha, Wisconsin
- Einstein Health with one NICU Einstein Medical Center Montgomery in East Norriton, Pennsylvania
- Methodist Hospitals with two NICUs Northlake located in Gary, Indiana and Southlake in Merrillville, Indiana
- Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey.