A yearly event that has taken place for four decades at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, Ore., allows neonatal intensive care unit nurses to reconnect with the babies they cared for, according to The Register-Guard.
The hospital's 40th annual NICU reunion saw around 550 attendees, including people who had received care in the NICU as babies and their families. The festivities included a dunk tank, inflatable water slide and bounce house. There was also a Build-A-Bear tent and people dressed in costume.
"The NICU reunion is really a wonderful event that the hospital helps put on because it gathers families and we can see these beautiful children healthy and happy and running like they're totally healthy and not having any physical problems," Maureen Beringer, a recently retired PeaceHealth NICU nurse told The Register-Guard.
Another attendee, the mother of a child born with a rare intestinal disease in 2008, also told the publication that coming to the event allows her to meet her son's caregivers as well as celebrate the fact that her son is alive.