A welcome initiative at Hillel Yaffe: The Giving Incubator

A large number of premature infants are born each year. Some need to spend an extended period in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where no visitors, other than the parents, are allowed. This means that the siblings of the preemies cannot meet them until they are discharged from the NICU.

To make the waiting period and the anticipation to meet the newborn easier and to establish an initial bond between the newborn and siblings, a welcome initiative, the first of its kind, was launched and called the Giving Incubator. It is the brainchild of Dikla Gold, the mother of a preemie who spent more than two months in the NICU at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center. Dikla has four other children - Tzofia, Carmel, Shachar and Lavi, who longed to meet their little brother. This led to the idea to create some kind of initial bond between the siblings. The children were onboard and were full partners in collecting the donations, selecting the gifts in the stores according to age, wrapping them and bringing them to the NICU.

Director of the Newborn and Neonatal Care Department at HYMC, Dr. Amit Hochberg, said, “The Giving Incubator is the foundation for the initial bond between the newborn and the other siblings following birth. The gift is a means of connecting and bringing the siblings together, even if from afar. The sister or brother's visit to the department is also an opportunity for the siblings to meet the staff and receive a brief explanation about the NICU and the baby's condition. This way, we make the siblings happy, support them, make this difficult period they're also going through easier and make them the focus of attention.”

The NICU staff and the Gold family children with the Giving Incubator at Hillel Yaffe