{"id":4666,"date":"2016-08-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/2016\/08\/16\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\/"},"modified":"2019-02-27T11:07:07","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T18:07:07","slug":"cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuddlers have best job on the planet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Bruce Erickson might have the best volunteer job on the planet.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple times a month, Erickson comes to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hospital, covers his chest and arm in a swaddling blanket and receives a tiny baby to cradle in his arms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s slightly addicting,\u2019\u2019 said Erickson, who earns a living as an engineer. \u201cFrankly, it\u2019s the calmest part of my entire week.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>On a recent morning, Erickson held Evan Anthony Aldrich \u2013 a beautiful boy who weighed in May 15 at one pound, 13 ounces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe call him Evan from Heaven,\u2019\u2019 said nurse Annmarie Burke.<\/p>\n<p>Erickson, who has volunteered for 21 years at Memorial and was named Children\u2019s Hospital Colorado\u2019s volunteer of the year in Colorado Springs, is a pro with the little ones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShhhhh,\u2019\u2019 Erickson said, trying to comfort the child. \u201cIt\u2019s alright.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Bruce Erickson, a volunteer cuddler at Memorial Hospital\u2019s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, holds Evan Anthony Aldrich, known affectionately at the hospital as \u201cEvan from Heaven.\u2019\u2019<br \/>\nIn a few moments, Evan settled in to Erickson\u2019s warmth. The baby\u2019s heart rate dropped, and his oxygen intake increased.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3088\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3088\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3088 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144645\/IMG_2143.webp\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144645\/IMG_2143.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144645\/IMG_2143-150x100.webp 150w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144645\/IMG_2143-200x133.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3088\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bruce Erickson, a volunteer cuddler at Memorial Hospital\u2019s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, holds Evan Anthony Aldrich, known affectionately at the hospital as \u201cEvan from Heaven.\u2019\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dr. Kara Murphy, a neonatologist at Memorial, said that cuddling not only comforts babies, but it helps in their development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really important,\u2019\u2019 Murphy said.\u00a0 \u201cWhen babies are crying, they use extra calories. Calming them down helps them to use those calories to grow and develop. That\u2019s one of the most important things that you do for babies when they are preemies &#8212; help them use those calories to grow and develop their organs,\u2019\u2019 Murphy said.<\/p>\n<p>Children have physiological responses when they are being cuddled and spoken to in a soft voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur monitors show that when the babies are picked up and cuddled by their cuddlers and their parents, you can see them better regulate their temperature and their heart rate. Their breathing slows down and everything calms,\u2019\u2019 Murphy said.<\/p>\n<p>Memorial currently has 29 volunteer cuddlers in the NICU. They volunteer in three-hour shifts, some starting as early as 5 a.m. and staying as late as 11 p.m. Cuddlers start by volunteering for three to six months in pediatrics before being considered for a cuddler role. Cuddlers receive general volunteer orientation and training and specialized cuddler training.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe feel that cuddlers are an integral part of the care that we give,\u2019\u2019 Murphy said. \u201cWe have patients who are here for weeks and sometimes, months at a time. Life goes on when babies are admitted to the NICU, and parents have responsibilities outside of the hospital and some cannot be here as often as they would like to be.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Shelley Aldrich, Evan\u2019s mother, has three other children. She and her husband alternate daily visits to the hospital, and they make it nearly every day. Nonetheless, when they\u2019re not visiting Evan in the NICU, they\u2019re grateful for people like Erickson and others who volunteer.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/28144645\/IMG_2130.webp\" alt=\"Dr. Kara Murphy\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Kara Murphy, a neonatologist at Memorial Hospital, says cuddling not only comforts babies but also helps in their development.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt provides peace of mind for me to have someone comfort him when my husband and I are not here. The nurses here have done a wonderful job and it\u2019s extremely comforting and reassuring to know that people are here for him,\u2019\u2019 Aldrich said.<\/p>\n<p>Erickson, who spends about 200 hours a year volunteering at the hospital, said he loves the job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor parents, this is a stressful place but, for me, this is my happy place,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cEngineering is a high-tech, low-touch job so I need a low-tech, high-touch volunteer job just to balance out.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s such a powerful positive reinforcement. The nurse may hand you a baby who is crying. I\u2019ll watch the monitor, and I can see the baby\u2019s heart rate slow down and the oxygen go up. It\u2019s such a tremendous, positive thing for a baby,\u2019\u2019 Erickson said.<\/p>\n<p>For the little boy named \u201cEvan from Heaven,\u2019\u2019 the cuddling has helped him use his calories to grow.<\/p>\n<p>After two months in the NICU, the boy who is now 38 weeks old, counting the time he spent in the womb, has steadily improved.<\/p>\n<p>He now weighs in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces. In a few days, he\u2019ll go home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bruce Erickson might have the best volunteer job on the planet. Multiple times a month, Erickson comes to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hospital, covers his chest and arm in a swaddling blanket and receives a tiny baby to cradle in his arms. \u201cIt\u2019s slightly addicting,\u2019\u2019 said Erickson, who earns a living as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[172,171],"class_list":["post-4666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-neonatology","tag-volunteer-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cuddlers have best job on the planet - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bruce Erickson might have the best volunteer job on the planet. Multiple times a month, Erickson comes to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hospital, covers his chest and arm in a swaddling blanket and receives a tiny baby to cradle in his arms. \u201cIt\u2019s slightly addi...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cuddlers have best job on the planet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bruce Erickson might have the best volunteer job on the planet. Multiple times a month, Erickson comes to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hospital, covers his chest and arm in a swaddling blanket and receives a tiny baby to cradle in his arms. \u201cIt\u2019s slightly addicting,\u2019\u2019 said Erickson, who earns a living as [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-16T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-27T18:07:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/1970\/01\/IMG_2143-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erin Emery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Emery\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erin Emery\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f989ee92cb6da7cfb7f697db1c6771b3\"},\"headline\":\"Cuddlers have best job on the planet\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-16T06:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-27T18:07:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":753,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/1970\\\/01\\\/IMG_2143-300x200.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Neonatology\",\"Volunteer services\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/cuddlers-have-best-job-on-the-planet\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cuddlers have best job on the planet - 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