Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/17/2019 --Babies born around the holidays at Intermountain Medical Center are going home wrapped in hand sewn stockings thanks to an extra special delivery from hospital volunteers.
Volunteers Judy Erickson and Jan Kofoed have hand-cut 100 stockings this year.
Beginning in September, Erickson chose the holiday fabric, cut each stocking, then along with help from community volunteer Kofoed, sewed them with love and perfection.
Each extra-large stocking has a special tag for a boy or girl and a sweet note telling the new parents these are from the volunteers at Intermountain Medical Center.
Volunteer services donates them to the maternity unit, where they're used to bundle up newborns when they go home during the holidays. New moms and dads also love having a stocking for a remembrance of their baby's birth.
Erickson's own son was born during December 52 years ago.
"They gave me my boy wrapped in a big red ribbon and I still very vividly remember that feeling of joy. I hope these stockings are just as heartwarming as they take home their holiday gift to their family," she recalls.
"This is an annual holiday-tradition that the whole maternity department looks forward to every year," said Alisha Bowling, BSN, RN, who is the maternity manager at Intermountain Medical Center.
Intermountain Medical Center is not the only Intermountain hospital wrapping up December's newborn babies in specially sewn Christmas stockings. American Fork Hospital, Alta View Hospital, Cassia Regional Hospital, Dixie Regional Medical Center, LDS Hospital, Orem Community Hospital, and Riverton Hospital are also giving new moms their babies wrapped in stockings before going home.
About Intermountain Healthcare
Intermountain Healthcare is a not-for-profit system of 24 hospitals, 215 clinics, a Medical Group with 2,500 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services in Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes and sustainable costs. For more information, see intermountainhealthcare.org.