Posted on March 19, 2007 at 4:15 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Every parent wants to remember all the important moments of their child’s life. Parents of sick newborns want even more to mark all of the significant milestones in their child’s early development.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Hospital is expanding its Bravery Beads program to include babies cared for in its Regional Newborn Intensive Care Unit (RNICU) and Continuing Care Nursery (CCN) to help parents do just that.

Begun in Toronto in 2004, Bravery Beads is a program that helps children and families dealing with devastating diseases or awaiting organ transplantation cope with their illnesses.

Parents of infants in UAB’s RNICU/CCN will receive a cord with beads that spell out their child’s name. Each time the child undergoes a procedure or treatment, such as tests or surgery, the parents will receive a wooden or plastic bead to add to the cord. Each new bead is unique for a particular medical procedure and will provide an ever-growing record of the child’s treatment and medical history. Organizers say the beads are something that can be put in a baby’s scrap book and reflected upon years later.

“The beads can make it easier for parents to explain to children, once they get older, the medical conditions they had when they were born,” said Jane Love, child life coordinator for UAB Cardiovascular Services. “The beads also become precious keepsakes for the families, helping tell a child’s personal story in a tangible, visual way.”

UAB’s Bravery Beads program began in Nov. 2005 for older children admitted to UAB in cardiology and transplantation. Those patients wear the beads as a necklace or bracelet, or attach them to their medical equipment or favorite toys.

UAB Hospital Volunteer Coordinator Gretchen Dorsey said the hospital auxiliary, which administers the program, wanted to expand it to the RNICU/CCN because it had been so successful in other areas of the hospital.

“The expansion of the Bravery Bead program to the RNICU/CCU has been much anticipated,” she said. “The continued success of the program in cardiology and transplantation made us determined to share Bravery Beads with as many children and babies as possible. We look forward to touching more patients’ lives through this wonderful volunteer service.”

The UAB Hospital Auxiliary will kick off the RNICU Bravery Beads program with a celebration at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 22 in UAB Hospital’s North Pavilion Atrium. Several recent graduates of UAB’s RNICU/CCN will receive their first beads at the celebration.

The Bravery Beads program also raises funds through the sale of a specially created necklace made of glass beads with a Czech glass heart emblem. These necklaces, separate from the ones the children receive, are available for purchase in the hospital gift shop, and the proceeds are used by the UAB Hospital Auxiliary to fund the Bravery Beads programs. Other locations where the necklaces can be purchased include The Birmingham Zoo, Mountain Chapel United Methodist Church, Soho Sweets and Fusion Spa.