The graduate students arrive at the NICU with their knitted hats, with Dr. Jeffrey Perlman (far right), chief of the Division of Newborn Medicine; Barbara Loughlin (third from right), wife of Dr. Gerald Loughlin, chairman of the Department of Pediatrics; Charli Yandolino (fourth from left), administrative secretary in the Graduate School; Claudette Theuriere (third from left), clinical manager of the NICU; and Xiaoai Chen, Fellowships and Outreach director of the Graduate School.
On Feb. 14, as temperatures hovered in the high 20s and snow fell in New York City, a group of Weill Cornell graduate students, along with nurses, faculty and friends of the Medical College, were making sure that babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell would be well-protected against any cold-weather drafts.
The group, formally known as the "We Knit Because We Care Campaign," coursed its way between incubators, seeking out parents and providing their premature babies with hand-knit hats specifically sized for their tiny heads.
The group began when Georgette "Charli" Yandolino, an administrative secretary at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, approached the Graduate School Executive Counsel (GSEC) with the idea of creating a student knitting club that would provide premature babies with yarn caps, which she had seen at Winthrop Hospital on Long Island when she was visiting her newborn triplet nieces.
Pamela Wille, a pharmacology graduate student and the treasurer of GSEC, began coordinating the effort, eventually meeting with NICU clinical nurse manager Claudette Theuriere; Barbara Loughlin, wife of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Pediatrician-in-Chief Dr. Gerald Loughlin; and Anita Gotto, wife of Weill Cornell Medical College Dean Dr. Antonio Gotto. Mrs. Gotto, who hosted the meeting, founded the "We Care" program of volunteer services focused on patients and their families at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.
From left: Jaclyn Gareau, GSEC vice president; Pamela Wille, GSEC secretary; Sumit Niogi, GSEC liason; and Anne Marie Hein, GSEC president.
For premature babies, the little caps serve a very specific, and vitally important, clinical purpose.
"A premature baby's head is disproportionately larger than a full-term baby's, and they tend to lose more heat through their heads," said Dr. Jeffrey Perlman, chief of the Division of Newborn Medicine. "These caps allow them to maintain warmth, particularly outside the incubators in rooms where there may be drafts."
Babies strong enough, and warm enough, to be outside of their incubators can spend more time "kangarooing" with their mothers, providing skin-to-skin contact that benefits both babies and their parents.
Eventually the "We Knit Because We Care" group hopes to provide knitting materials and instruction to parents in the NICU, who often spend many hours in the NICU watching over their baby.
"[Many parents] don't know what to do with themselves—spending all that time in the ward," said Claudette Theuriere, who has been a knitter for more than 30 years. "It will pass the time and they'll know they're doing a good thing for their baby."
Interest in knitting has exploded in recent years; according to the trade group Craft Yarn Council of America, the population of 25- to 34-year-old knitters grew 150 percent between 2002 and 2004. The trend did not miss Weill Cornell.
"Lots of young people are interested in knitting, it's very 'in' at the moment, so we thought of ways to incorporate it into our community service program," said Barbara Loughlin.
Newborn Nehir Kayhan tries on her knitted cap for the first time.
A second, unintended outcome: "Students met and were knitting, it was like a dating thing. The boys wanted to learn how to knit, and the girls wanted to teach them," joked Charli Yandolino. "If anybody gets married because of this, I want to be responsible."
As the snow continued to fall outside, one happy mother said she wouldn't be needing a hat; her baby would be leaving later that day. Pamela Wille, the campaign's student coordinator, seized her opportunity: "I said, 'No, today is a perfect day—you definitely need one!'"
Photography by Amelia Panico.