News

New moms at HHC Bellevue Hospital Center and their newborns were visited by some knitting elves on Tuesday, December 16th. Four members of the Stein Senior Center knitting club presented 129 pairs of handmade booties to Bellevue’s Maternal Newborn/Postpartum Mother-Baby unit, to be distributed to newborn babies. The booties were the handiwork of more than a dozen women—members of a knitting group at the senior center located in Kips Bay and started by social worker Sandy Daniels more than two decades ago.

“Babies are made out of love, and so were these precious handmade gifts. It was wonderful to witness the joy on the faces of the moms and also on the faces of the gracious volunteer knitters as they presented our new moms with tiny booties for their newborns. This is exactly what the holiday season is about—giving,” said Rohnie D. Williams HN, SAFE, CLC, Head Nurse, Postpartum-Mother Baby, Bellevue Hospital Center.

The idea to support Bellevue’s tiniest patients came from Gloria Barker, another member of the knitting club and former member of Bellevue’s Community Advisory Board. She said the knitting group worked on the bootie project for about two months and all the ladies got involved in it, making dozens of booties each.

“All of us in the knitting club are very blessed,” stated Daniels. “Every year we believe it’s important to give back to those who might not be as blessed. It was so special that we got to actually distribute our handmade creations and see some of the new moms and their precious new babies enjoying them.”

The Stein Senior Center knitting club meets Tuesdays from 10:00-11:30 AM.

Contact: Amy Di Leo Bellevue Public Affairs, (212) 562-4516, amy.dileo@nychhc.org

About NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue

Bellevue is a member of the NYC Health + Hospitals health care system and is America’s oldest hospital, established in 1736. Affiliated with the NYU School of Medicine, Bellevue is a major referral center for highly complex cases. The 844-bed hospital has 6,000 employees including highly skilled, interdisciplinary clinical staff. It sees more than 110,000 emergency room visits and 500,000 outpatient visits annually. Clinical centers of excellence include: Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care; Cardiovascular Services; Designated Regional Perinatal Center and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU); Comprehensive Children’s Psychiatric Emergency Program; and Cancer Services. For more information, visit nychealthandhospitals.org/bellevueor find us on twitter.com/BellevueHosp.

About NYC Health + Hospitals

The NYC Health + Hospitals health care system is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system, the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country, and one of the New York area’s largest providers of government-sponsored health insurance, MetroPlus Health Plan, the plan of choice for nearly half a million New Yorkers. The NYC Health + Hospitals health care system serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. The system provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, five skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. NYC Health + Hospitals/Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. The NYC Health + Hospitals system was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission’s John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org or find us on https://www.facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem or twitter.com/NYCHealthSystem.

Tags:
• Baby Bootie
• Donation
• Health Insurance
• NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue