At Duke Hospital 86-year old Annie Turner and five-month-old Shemaiah Harris are gaining a new lease on life through each other. They both participate in the LAP Program, an organization of hospital volunteers paired with premature babies.
When treatment forces these infants to stay at the hospital for extended periods, their parents often find it difficult to visit them every day. LAP volunteers provide an important element of nurture: holding, rocking and loving care.
Ever since her husband died six years ago, Turner has volunteered three times per week. She has actively participated in LAP since its founding four years ago, and has cared for babies in other units, such as the bone marrow area, for six years. "They're my life," she explained.
Turner is among five volunteers from Durham County who recently received an award from North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt for their service. The awards ceremony took place at Wake Forest University and honored 400 volunteers from throughout the state.
Turner had little to say about her own service, but talked enthusiastically about the achievements of others.
"There was an old man of about 95 who had a walker, but he was real pleasant and happy-looking and alert," she said. "He was from another county, and he worked 100 hours of volunteer service." After noting that she is not the only senior citizen who volunteers in the community, Turner quickly turned her attention back to the baby.
As she picked up Shemaiah she said, "Good morning, little girl. I love you, I love you, I love you." Tiny Shemaiah was born without a thumb or a foot. Turner carefully showed the scars from her intravenous treatment and explained that she rocked Shemaiah whenever she could.
Sometimes treatment prevents Turner from seeing Shemaiah, and sometimes the little girl is with her parents. When such situations arise, Turner happily requests, "Give me a baby, any baby. I love them."
Joy radiates from Turner as she holds Shemaiah, but the job is not always so easy. "It always breaks my heart to lose one, yet they need to go home to their parents," she said.
After Turner nurtured a baby boy with severe medical problems for several months, he left the hospital for a foster home.
"I still try to keep in touch with the family to see how he's doing," Turner said. Often, however, contact with the children ceases when they leave. Once she attended the funeral of a baby she had cared for.
A session on grief and loss is just one part of the training to become a LAP volunteer. Training sessions occur once a year, and there is currently a wait-list of about 30 people-ranging in age from students to senior citizens-to participate in LAP.
Debbie Brandon, neonatal clinical nurse specialist and head of the program, explained that the Hospital tries to keep a group of 15 to 20 care-givers to provide the touch that infants need. "We don't want visits to be so infrequent that they don't get to know it here," she said.
Annie Turner certainly knows her way around the nursery. Her soothing touch, sincere smile, and sweet voice help speed the healing of the small patients.
For Annie, too, the experience is the highlight of her week. As she said, "Anything with babies suits me fine."
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