Volunteers to provide baby hugging services at Victoria General Hospital

Babies in need of human touch at the Victoria General Hospital (VGH) will now be helped by “hugging” volunteers.

Chris Shewchuk with Island Health says the new “No Baby Unhugged” initiative will ensure all babies get the hugs they need to help them thrive.

The hospital has recruited volunteers to hug babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), should circumstances prevent a parent from being at their newborn’s side.

Island Health says vulnerable babies, who participate in the hugging program, can experience benefits such as stabilized heart rates and body temperature, faster weight gain, improved oxygen levels and better tolerance to pain.

The program soft-launched on March 1, but is now officially running at the hospital.

Shewchuk says specially trained volunteers will be available whenever a neonatal or pediatric intensive care infant would benefit from a hug. Volunteers will cuddle, rock and sing to newborns, often for several hours at a time.

Three “baby hugging” volunteers have been recruited from a pool of 7,000 hospital volunteers so far. All three had to go through additional screening and training.

“The feedback from the volunteers has been amazing, being able to help the families,” said Shewchuk. “The feedback from the families has also been really great because they talk about how hard it is to leave their kids here alone at the hospital when they can’t be here. They know that the staff are great, but their job is not to babysit. The parents feel great knowing that their child is not here all on their own.”

Island Health is the latest organization to implement the innovative program. There are three baby hugging programs up and running at other Canadian hospitals.

Shewchuk says their hospital staff heard about the program, which is sponsored by Huggies, and asked the management to apply. The hospital got selected, and Shewchuk says many of their departments had to come together to make the initiative possible.

“It was a very staff-driven, front-line effort,” he said. “They really wanted to champion it.”

Shewchuk says the hospital is also looking into expanding the program for other patients in their pediatric department.

To learn more about the baby hugging program, go to nobabyunhugged.ca.