Nothing is more frightening than seeing a newborn infant struggle – and fail – to breathe on its own. And nothing is more awe-inspiring than seeing a calm, confident nurse resuscitate that child. Then, place it in its mother’s arms.

Because of your support, nurses at Mercy Health — Lourdes Hospital are ready for any situation. They train with state-of-the-art simulation manikins. These invaluable tools allow them to safely practice, and perfect, their lifesaving skills.

“We’ve never had any equipment this realistic,” says Billie Culver, a nursing educator at Lourdes. “These manikins have a heartbeat, lung sounds and bowel sounds. And, they can be stuck with an IV. The nurses can practice the same procedures on the infant manikin that they will perform on a real baby.

Billie is grateful for donors like you who helped secure the training manikins.

“It makes our staff more confident,” she says. “If our nurses are confident in what they’re doing, then it’s also going to make the parents feel more confident in the care their baby is receiving.”

Billie is a mother of three. And she is committed to making sure nurses have the knowledge and skills necessary to serve their tiniest patients.

“Our number one goal is to make sure that our moms and babies stay together,” she says. “A lot of my nurses are mamas. We’re just advocating for our parents to have what we would want if we were in their shoes.”