Hairdresser opens inside hospital to pamper parents of babies in ICU

When a baby is born early, has health problems, or is born in a difficult delivery, they go to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There, newborns receive care from a team of experts 24 hours a day. For parents it is quite a stressful experience. And this is well known to Sarah Pulley, the protagonist of the following history that has become viral in social networks.

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Pulley34, knows this hospital unit up close: four years ago, her daughter Amelia was born prematurely and spent four months in the NICU from two different hospitals in Indianapolis, USA. “When Amelia contracted a virus, she was transferred to Riley Children’s Health”Sarah, a hair salon owner in Carmel, Indiana, told Today. “We are very familiar with that place”.

Last year, Sarah became a guest services volunteer in the family room of the hospital’s Ronald McDonald House, a program under the Ronald McDonald House global charity. When Sarah heard that Riley Children’s Health wanted to provide pampering services in one of their two family rooms, she was excited. “I knew this could be special”said.

So he volunteered for run a beauty salon inside the hospital. Sarah donated a chair from her living room, Three Seventeen Hair Design. She also contacted her distributor, who agreed to donate US$150 worth of hair care products, and she offered her work.

Sarah Pulley says she appreciates the opportunity to volunteer at Riley Children’s Health in Indiana. (Photo: Ronald McDonald House Charities)

A beauty salon inside a hospital

On September 14, was inaugurated the “Beauty Bar” on the third floor of the Ronald McDonald Family Room Maternity Tower in Riley Children’s Healthin Indianapolis.

inside the space, parents can relax in a HydroMassage chair, take a nap and have a snack with fruit and granola bars. Sarah also goes out of her way to pamper and style postpartum moms and sleep deprived dads free of charge.

We wash, dry and we give massages on the scalp on the second Wednesday of each month”he explained.

Adam Lowe, manager of marketing and communications for the center, told Today that the service is open to all patients they give birth in Riley.

“Most of the moms who give birth there have high-risk pregnancies or babies who need immediate medical support”, said. Sarah understands how beneficial self-care can be.

Sarah Pulley prepares to give a new mom a scalp massage at Riley Children’s Health in Indiana. (Photo: Ronald McDonald House Charities)

The importance of self-care

“You completely lose all sense of yourself when you have a baby in the NICU“he remembered. “My first mom completely relaxed in the chair; she just closed her eyes and breathed. My second (guest) was completely exhausted”.

Sarah connected with her third guest, whose baby had similar medical issues to Amelia’s. “She had an emergency C-section and was very grateful”Sarah remembered. “Our experiences were very similar”.

Sarah insists that beauty treatments “they are just as special to me”and add: “There is something in the connection between moms and the power of touch”.

In addition to a classroom experience, Pulley wants parents who feel isolated to know: “You got this”. “There is hope in my story because my daughter is thriving”said Sarah, who welcomed a son named Joey two years ago. “We did it”.

Source: Elcomercio