November 21, 2022

Allyson Koch, a 17-year-old at Mount Notre Dame High School (MND), recently collaborated with Barbara Shappie, Good Samaritan NICU Family Resource Specialist, to donate NICU Preemie Parent Care Packages to foster parents or parents of a premature baby born in the Good Samaritan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The project was part of Allyson’s senior capstone project for school in which she combined the purpose of the project – service – with her own life experience – being a preemie baby in the Good Sam NICU in 2005.

“When I was choosing my project, I thought about what made me unique and special,” said Allyson. “I wanted to choose a service project where I could really make a difference and help others. One thing that makes me unique and special was that I was a 28-week preemie, born three months early, and I weighed only two pounds and 11 ounces. I thought it would be an amazing experience to partner with the Good Samaritan NICU where I was born. I knew that I wanted to spend my capstone hours giving back to the NICU that saved my life and cared for me until I was ready to go home.”

Allyson reached out to Barbara who agreed to be her project sponsor. She then met with Barbara in June 2022 to discuss logistics and how she could successfully complete her capstone, titled “Leading with Love: NICU Preemie Parent Support.”

As part of her project, Allyson completed a bulletin board of personal photos, displaying her own journey as a preemie in the NICU 17 years ago. “The purpose of sharing my own story on the board and placing it in the scrub-in room was that I wanted preemie parents to see my own journey as they are washing their hands to go and see their baby. My Journey Board has photos of my early days in the NICU through the present day of me holding trophies that my MND Varsity Dance Team won in February 2022. I wanted to give the preemie parents hope, seeing that while their babies are so little now, they can grow up to do great things and that they can be strong athletes too, just like I am! As I was putting up the board, one preemie mom was looking at the photos and I told her that the photos were all of me as a preemie - now I am 17. She was so happy to look at my journey and gave me a hug and told me that I gave her hope for her son. She also invited me to meet her son that was only a few days old. I knew at that moment that I had made a difference at the NICU with that new mom, and it was all worth it!”

As an additional aspect of her project, Allyson led a group of Girl Scouts at her former elementary school. The group made fleece tie blankets, wrapped them, and placed personalized notes of encouragement that were then given to families heading home from the NICU. She also held a baby item donation event with St. Michael Parish, collecting more than 1,800 diapers, 80 packs of baby wipes, 133 baby bottles, more than 120 outfits, and 60 other items. All items encompassed what Allyson called NICU Preemie Parent Care Packages, which were given to NICU foster parents or any NICU parent in need.

“I hope that the care packages will take some of the stress away from the parents, knowing that they will have some of the newborn items (diapers, wipes, bottles, a new outfit) that they will need when they get home on the first day,” said Allyson.

Allyson says that volunteering at the NICU was one of the most rewarding experiences of her life. She hopes that through this capstone project she was an inspiration to families with preemie babies at Good Sam!

The Good Samaritan Foundation secures philanthropic support for programs and projects that promote exceptional healthcare, preventative initiatives, education, research, and community outreach activities provided by Good Samaritan Hospital and its related entities. For more info, visit gshfoundation.com.

Pictured above: Barbara Shappie, NICU Family Resource Specialist, and Allyson with donated blankets.

Baby Allyson in the NICU with Christa Black, MSN, RNC-NIC; today, Christa is the Neonatal ICU Nurse Manager

Allyson with NICU Parent Care bags

Allyson and her Journey Board displayed in the NICU