UMMC staff gain state, national honors
Published on Monday, October 2, 2023
By: Patrice Guilfoyle, pguilfoyle@umc.edu
Medical Center faculty and staff often are recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for their academic or medical achievements. These accolades place UMMC among health science centers worldwide.
Children’s NICU among top Read-a-thon competitors
Dr. Mary Taylor, Suzan B. Thames Chair and professor of pediatrics, joins in the NICU Read-a-thon at Children's of Mississippi by reading "Giraffes Can't Dance" to Waylon Teague of Collinsville as his mom, Hannah Teague, looks on.
Children’s of Mississippi neonatal intensive care units ranked third among larger NICUs (more than 20 babies) participating in this year’s Babies with Books Read-a-thon.
The annual competition has NICUs around the world competing in the number of stories read to NICU patients. Children’s of Mississippi, competing for the first time, ranked in the top 20 of all 192 NICUs participating, with 2,767 reading sessions.
Children’s of Mississippi’s entry included NICUs at the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower and in Wiser Hospital for Women and Infants in Jackson and the affiliate NICU at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo.
“This is extremely important to us and of great joy and pride because almost all the big NICUs across the country were a part of this event,” said Dr. Mobolaji Famuyide, chief of the Division of Newborn Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “It shows the great work these multidisciplinary teams are already doing to support babies and families, with the resources at hand and the potential for great things in the future.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends reading with babies to “promote … social-emotional development … and language and literacy skills during this critical period of early brain and child development.”
Throughout the Sept. 11-21 Read-a-thon, care team members, patients’ parents and hospital leaders read stories to NICU patients. Parents will take home the books to enjoy with their babies as they grow.
"Our team members in the multidisciplinary team went all out to make this a huge success,” she said. “Kara Butler with our NICU early intervention program took the lead in Jackson and Jessica Fears in Tupelo, but they both had a strong village supporting them. Everyone was extremely motivated and pumped, including the families. It took a NICU village working together to make this happen!”
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School of Nursing project honored by Ole Miss
The overall recipient of the University of Mississippi’s Excellence in Community Engagement Award is the Educating the Next Generation of Health Care Professionals project, organized by Dr. Anne Norwood and Dr. Lisa Haynie of the School of Nursing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Norwood, associate dean of practice and partnerships, and Haynie, professor of nursing and director of the Mercy Delta Express Project, work with the South Delta School District and Jackson Public Schools to help address health inequality and food insecurity for children in underserved communities.
The effort involves UMMC students from multiple disciplines, including nursing, medicine, occupational therapy and social work. The project provides service-learning experiences for the next generation of health care professionals on social determinants of health, specifically related to issues of health inequity and food insecurity in Mississippi.
The award from the Ole Miss Division of Diversity and Community Engagement includes $5,000 to further the team’s community engagement efforts.