WHAT IS THE JOURNEY BEAD PROGRAM?
The NICU Journey Bead Program is a family support based program that serves as a connection between parents, their baby, and their healthcare team. It’s the ONLY NICU specific bead program and the first of its kind where the focus is on the celebration of milestones, growth progression, and the parent experience. The program has proven to have an impactful difference, not only for the families but for the NICU team as well.
The Journey Bead Program uses special custom hand-made glass beads as a tangible way for parents to record and remember their baby’s story. Each handcrafted bead tells a personal story of strength, courage, hope, and healing. This program offers encouragement and inspiration while celebrating and documenting each new step. It’s a way to recognize the emotions, remember the milestones, and reflect upon the trials and triumphs that make up a NICU journey.
HOW DOES THE JOURNEY BEAD PROGRAM WORK?
Upon enrollment, parents will receive a special fold-out keepsake bead guide, a leather storyline lariat, along with the Signature Footprint Bead to hang at their baby’s bedside.
Colorful customized beads, each representing their baby’s unique and special story will be given and added to the lariat as their NICU journey continues. Once their baby graduates from the NICU, they will have a tangible storyline full of beads that helps to document and honor their baby’s journey through the NICU. Their story will be recorded, and it will be remembered in a very special and meaningful way.
The NICU Bedside Journey Bead program comes inclusive with 20 different glass beads, each representing a milestone. The first bead in the series is a hand-made glass caterpillar and the final graduation bead is a beautiful glass butterfly.
WHY IS THIS PROGRAM SO IMPORTANT?
The Journey Bead Program gives parents an opportunity to document their story and celebrate the milestones all while understanding their baby’s needs as they grow and develop in the NICU. The program offers an open dialogue for education and provides an engaging way to connect to the human experience in the NICU. Empowering parents and encouraging them to celebrate their baby’s unique story and journey.
The Bedside NICU Journey Bead Program Benefits:
- Family support based program that helps guide parents through what to expect.
- Helps reduce parents feelings of isolation, provides validation of the emotional experience, and helps to normalize the situation.
- Provides tangible tools for families to feel comfortable and be confident with their baby.
- Provides ongoing support, resources, information, and education for families to ensure the best outcomes for the baby and the family.
- Helps parents bond with their baby through milestones and memories.
- Helps families communicate with medical staff and advocate for their baby (Human connections).
- Provides a roadmap to home. Need to know the information to get through the next hour, day, and week.
- Empower parents to document their stories and celebrate their progress.
- Provides storytelling opportunities in a nurturing environment.
FOR THE NICU TEAM
- Nursing intervention that shows compassion and empathy while improving communication.
- Empowers staff to draw upon clinical intuition bringing excellence in nursing care.
- Improving patient satisfaction scores and transforming bedside care.
- Platform to develop a bond between parents and the nursing staff by creating a positive, trusting relationship, and a therapeutic alliance between the parent, their baby, and the NICU team.
FOR THE FAMILIES
- Tells a story of strength, courage, hope, and healing.
- Helps alleviate some of the emotional pain of the NICU experience, helping to decrease stress and anxiety.
- A means to record and share their journey, giving a timeline and a tangible way to celebrate each milestone achievement in a positive and empowering way.
- Bring comfort in a time of crisis and a sense of joy to their Journey.
- Fosters personal connections with healthcare providers, building trusting relationships that enable the parent-nurse bond to develop and grow throughout the NICU journey.
- Restores a sense of self, inspiring parents to push on, knowing that they are not alone.
Peekaboo ICU NICU Journey Bead Program- Highlighted on the TODAY SHOW.
Original:"‘NICU beads’ mark milestones for preemies and their parents"
Read Sarah Clagett's (The TODAY SHOW's Producer) Blog post about her experience:
I wasn't ready: Mom of preemie born at 24 weeks shares emotional journey
*** THE CURRENT PROGRAM IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO HOSPITALS DIRECTLY. PLEASE CONTACT US USING YOUR HOSPITAL EMAIL ADDRESS. ANY OTHER EMAILS (GMAIL, YAHOO ETC) WILL NOT BE RESPONDED TO.