On Tuesday, Chrystal and baby Archer were reunited and spent the entire day together—see his content little smile? It was Chrystal's original news plea that inspired me to pursue this petition and apply pressure for an end to Carilion Children's Hospital's unethical NICU ban. 

What happened next was nothing short of amazing! In a matter of days Carilion Children's reversed their NICU ban and reopened this week with restricted visitation, a move better aligned with the kinds of NICU rules currently in place nationwide during this time.

Carilion Childrens' updated NICU visitation policy invites parents to be with their babies every other day. Truth is, it could be BETTER.

While Parents navigate these updated rules and find their way to maximize every opportunity to partner with their baby's medical team, to actively parent and participate in health care and medical decision making, and to ensure their babies thrive, we will keep going.

Visitation policies vary, but NICU bans are unacceptable.

Please stay tuned as we move forward with more opportunities for you to help shape the narrative at the national level. As we mentioned in our last update, there are still 9 NICUs in 5 states with unethical rules in place that ban parents from the NICU and separate families.  

We will be in touch for how you can help us have even greater impact on this issue. Thank you again, we appreciate each one of you!

Jacqueline Sears, MPH, CPH, CBS
Empowered NICU Parenting

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