(Published in Oakland North: http://oaklandnorth.net/2011/11/01/kaiser-permanente-hosts-reunion-for-children-born-prematurely-and-their-families/)
On Saturday, at the Oakland Zoo’s Snow Building, families reunited with the doctors and nurses who cared for their premature babies at the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Dozens of attendees participated in arts and crafts activities and celebrated the good health of their children.
The NICU graduates reunion goes back 20 years, and was last held in 2008. Julie Dulay, an Oakland resident and mother of twins born at 27 weeks, spent much of her summer in the NICU. “We know all the nurses and they took great care of us and the doctors, and we were just looking forward to coming back and seeing them today and saying thank you,” Dulay said. “And showing them our fat babies.”