Forrest General Hospital NICU Sends Patients Home With a Keepsake

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – (February 18, 2022) Families leaving Forrest General Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) will now have the opportunity for a last-minute keepsake. A new mural has been placed on a wall in the NICU and provides one final stop for NICU families as they head home.

The mural, “We are on our Way,” depicts a happy elephant and rabbit lifting off in a brightly-decorated hot air balloon. Upon discharge, the mural can be filled in with the date, the baby’s gestational age at birth, weight at birth, current weight, and NICU visit date. To the left of that, there’s a spot for parents and little one to pose for a photo.

According to Leigh Ann Leonard, RN, patient care manager for Forrest General’s Neonatology Unit, as well as the Well Baby Nursery and Pediatrics, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit-Base Council wanted a way for these families to have a memory of their baby’s journey during their stay in the FGH NICU. “After research, they decided to do a discharge mural,” Leonard said. “It’s a way for these special families to have a keepsake from this time with us,” Leonard said. “We hope they will remember the journey their little one has been on and the care that was provided to them.”

The mural was funded through the Forrest General Healthcare Foundation. For more information, visit www.forrestgeneral.com/NICU.