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Health & Fitness

Greenway helps March of Dimes put kids on road to health

Julie's son Nathaniel is 12 years old. He likes playing video games and is doing well in school. He owns a toothy smile that beams out from under his mop of hair.

By Jason S. Rufner

Julie's son Nathaniel is 12 years old.  He likes playing video games and is doing well in school.  He owns a toothy smile that beams out from under his mop of hair.

Nathaniel's smile might not be here if not for the March of Dimes' work with Inova Fairfax Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of which he is a graduate. Nathaniel was born four months premature, weighing one pound, twelve ounces.

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Julie Kipers didn't know Nathaniel’s birth would necessitate a four-month NICU stay until the day before it began.  Now, after she and her family received myriad benefits from the infrastructure of support and comfort afforded by the March of Dimes, she has flipped roles, becoming a long-time volunteer on the Parent Advisory Committee.

"His medical conditions now are barely there. He looks and acts like an average kid," she said as happy shouts from the just-finished March-For-Babies Walk reverberated around Reston Town Center.

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Julie related a story from that morning, when parents of a recent NICU graduate emphatically shook Nathaniel's hand, glad to see evidence that their own child can in fact transcend such harsh maladies.

"Parents need to know from other parents that they will get through it day by day," Julie said. "We've been learning how best to get the family through those times."

The Kipers family is an ideal example of what the March of Dimes' NICU Family Support Program can do for our area's families, thanks in part to the ample yearly financial donations generated by the Dulles Greenway.

Over 6,000 families have engaged in programs of comfort and support as a direct consequence of the Greenway's financial contributions, according to Shannon Gilbert, Director of the March of Dimes' National Capital Area chapter.

In 2005, the local chapter sought to expand its Family Support Program to Inova Fairfax in light of the 12,000 births cared for each year in that facility.  That's when the Dulles Greenway -- already long-established as a benefactor for the March of Dimes -- stepped up its support.

The relationship between the Greenway and the March of Dimes' National Capital Area chapter is as old as the Greenway itself.  Since the privately owned toll road opened in 1995, the Greenway has continuously partnered with the chapter through outreach like the March For Babies.

Now, as a beneficiary of the Greenway's annual Drive For Charity since that campaign began seven years ago, the March of Dimes relies upon the substantial monetary outlay to fund the many facets of its NICU Family Support Program.

"This program would not be in existence without the Dulles Greenway," said Gilbert flatly. "The Greenway is what started it."

The program, now in its sixth year at Inova Fairfax and with a satellite program at Inova Loudoun, has proven to be a needful one.

"Whether your baby is going to be in the NICU for a few days or many months, it can be a very difficult time, universally," said Sara Donahue, a March of Dimes NICU Family Support Specialist.

"That's where we can come in and provide that extra support to make sure the family knows what's going on and what they need to know to make the best decisions and reduce the stress."

Education, information, bilingual services, staff training and nursing modules are a few of the many pillars in the structure of support and comfort provided by the NICU Family Support Program -- even down to the sense of normality that comes from piecing together baby's first scrapbook.

Donahue added that the program employs a philosophy of "family-centered care" in which all members of a baby's family become an integral part of the healthcare team, knowing the right questions to ask of providers while maintaining intimacy with their infant.

"We make sure there are no boundaries for parents to be parents to their baby," she said.

So high is the quality of care given at Inova Fairfax's NICU that a year ago it became the first facility in the nation to earn the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission for the care of premature infants -- a recognition Donahue calls "a very big deal."

With the aid of the Dulles Greenway, the March of Dimes NICU Family Support Program provides much-needed comfort and support at the most critical times so that kids like Nathaniel can show off that smile.

"Very happy," said Nathaniel about his regular work as a March of Dimes volunteer, flashing the grin.  "I really like helping other kids who also really need it."

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