Mount Sinai NICU Parent Advisory Committee

02/26/2026

We need your voice 🤍
The Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) is here to support NICU families in the most meaningful, practical, and compassionate ways possible…but we can’t do that without you.

We’ve created two short surveys:
• One for current NICU families
• One for families who have been discharged

Your feedback will help us better understand the real needs, gaps, wishes, and ideas of the families we serve, so we can advocate, plan initiatives, and build support that truly reflects your experience.

Whether you’re in the thick of it right now or looking back on your journey, your insight matters more than you know.

Please take a few minutes to share your voice. Together, we can shape the kind of support every NICU family deserves!

🔗 Survey links in bio

02/25/2026

Cuddles make such a difference!

Volunteer baby cuddlers are making a powerful difference in Toronto NICUs. Trained and carefully vetted, these volunteers provide newborns with consistent, nurturing physical contact, a simple act that studies show helps babies spend, on average, six fewer days in the NICU.

The volunteer support helps ease the workload for nurses and another clear sign of the program’s success? Long volunteer waitlists, and remarkably low turnover.

02/25/2026

Save the Date 🤍✨ Our NICU Reunion is happening this summer! A day to reconnect, celebrate strength, and honor the tiniest fighters who brought us all together. Whether you’re a graduate family, current NICU parent, or part of our incredible community — we can’t wait to see you. Stay tuned for details! 🥰

Contact: nicu.programs@sinaihealth.ca for questions or to support!

02/19/2026

Sending gentle prayers and light to your little fighters this Ramadan.

May this holy month bring peace and strength to your precious families.

🌙✨

02/14/2026

Happy Valentine’s Day to our NICU families 🤍

Today, we want you to know how deeply you are cared for. The NICU is not where anyone imagines spending time, but your love, strength, and devotion to your baby are powerful beyond words. Every moment you show up, every touch, every quiet hope is an act of love. ✨

Please remember you are never alone. The Parent Advisory Committee stands beside you, holding space for your fears, your strength, and your hope. We are sending love to you and your tiny fighters today and always. 💌

02/08/2026

When the odds are one in a million…be that one!

Photo: seahawks Seattle Seahawks

02/08/2026

They told him he might not live.
They didn’t know he was a warrior.

Born a micro-preemie at just 23½ weeks and barely over 2 lbs, with doctors giving him almost no chance — nothing stopped him. Not his size, not the odds, not even a beginning that seemed impossible. 🙌

Fast forward ➤ now he’s a force on the gridiron, a linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks proving that fearless starts small but finishes HUGE. 🦅🏈 Every snap he takes is a reminder that no beginning defines your end.

To all the preemie fighters out there — tiny today, unstoppable tomorrow. Just like him, nothing can stop a preemie with heart. ❤️✨
MiracleJourney DerickHall NeverGiveUp

01/31/2026

10 Naughty NICU Baby Behaviors

1. Pulling out my feeding tube. Repeatedly. Immediately after it’s taped perfectly.

2. Grabbing monitor wires with shocking precision for someone who “isn’t coordinated yet.”

3. Waiting until the nurse walks away to desat…then popping right back up the second they return.

4. Demonstrating advanced knowledge of IV pump sensitivity by holding my arm just so until it loses its mind.

5. Spitting out my pacifier with precision, then crying because it’s gone.

6. Pushing my leg out of the swaddle one tiny toe at a time, like a mini escape artist.

7. Acting offended by temperature checks, but unbothered by everything else.

8. A full-blown diaper explosion after my diaper is changed, lined up, and the tabs are sealed with confidence.

9. Spitting up right after my linens were changed. Bonus points if it’s on a clean outfit.

10. Having an absolutely great day…right up until someone says it out loud.

We aren’t “really” naughty though!
We’re just tiny humans with big personalities, learning how our bodies work and reminding everyone we’re stronger than we look. 🧡

What would you add to this list?

01/01/2026

To every NICU family—your journey matters, and you are never alone. 💜

12/31/2025

From the Parent Advisory Committee, to every family welcoming the New Year in the NICU: we see you. We know the fear, the waiting, the strength it takes to keep showing up. As this year begins, we wish you moments of peace between the beeps, hope that grows a little stronger each day, and the deep knowing that you are not alone—held by love, by community, and by the promise of brighter days ahead ❤️ Happy New Year!

12/27/2025

We say, “Oh, that’s normal.”
But there’s nothing normal about the NICU.

In this space, normal is often the word we reach for first. Labs are normal. Setbacks are normal. It’s normal for this age.

It isn’t careless. It’s habit. Language shaped by years of doing this work.

But normal doesn’t always land the way we think it does.

Maybe expected serves us better?
Expected for their gestational age.
Expected for this part of the journey.

Not because it means less. Because it explains more.

Choosing expected over normal doesn’t change the care. But it can change how the moment is carried.

12/25/2025

From all of us in the parent advisory committee, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!