Severance Hosts Homecoming Day for Premature Babies

Severance Children's Hospital announced on the 18th that it held a Homecoming Day on the 14th, inviting children born prematurely and their families.

The event, held at a school playground near the hospital, was attended by a total of about 100 people, including 44 children and their families, as well as 35 medical staff such as neonatology professors and nurses.

Premature infants are those born before 37 weeks of gestation. Because their physical development is slower, they can be more vulnerable in terms of growth, immunity, and development compared to full-term infants. Parents of premature infants face the burden of managing their children's illnesses while raising them. This is why continuous care and attention from medical staff are necessary for premature infants and their parents even after discharge.

The Neonatology Department at Severance Children's Hospital has been operating the SMILE project, an integrated care program for premature infants, since 2021 to alleviate parental anxiety and support the healthy growth of premature infants.

The SMILE project stands for Support, Milestone, Improvement (quality of life), Love, and Education, and is a program that allows premature infants and their parents to maintain an organic relationship with medical staff even after discharge.

Key services include ▲ growth and development consultations with the nutrition team and rehabilitation medicine professors ▲ psychological counseling to relieve anxiety of parents of premature infants ▲ communication time among parents of premature infants with medical staff.

This Homecoming Day is part of the SMILE project, which enhances the bond between medical staff and families of premature infants. The premature infants, who have now grown healthily like other children, enjoyed fun games such as running and ball play with their parents and medical staff.

Eight-year-old A, who was playing ball sweating, was a premature infant born weighing 0.65 kg. He received treatment for three months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Severance Children's Hospital.

Professor Park Minsu (Head of Neonatology) said, “The SMILE project at Severance Children's Hospital is another medical service that touches both the body and mind, based on the formation of bonds between medical staff, children, and parents.”