Nearly 1,000 survivors and family members who received treatment at the Valley Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit celebrated at an annual picnic on Saturday, Oct. 11. Valley Children's Hospital photo

Valley Children’s Hospital welcomed hundreds of families on Saturday, Oct. 11 to the hospital’s Giannini Family Pavilion for its annual Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Graduate Picnic, a long-standing celebration honoring the strength, growth and resilience of the hospital’s smallest, most vulnerable patients.

The event, which has gone on for more than 45 years, initially started with around ten families and their children reuniting at Roeding Park. Through the years, the celebration has grown, peaking at over 1,000 attendees prior to COVID-19.

This year’s event nearly returned the attendance to that mark, with families reuniting with one another and hospital staff to celebrate the health and wellness of NICU graduates.

“It’s a day for all of our babies who’ve graduated from our NICU to come back and see our staff and spend some time just showing how great they’re doing,” said Stacie Venkatesan, director of NICU and patient throughput. “Our babies can spend as long as three months or longer in the NICU, and so we really form bonds with the families. Getting them to come back for the staff to get to see how well the kids are doing…is really encouraging for both ends.”

This year’s theme, “Homecoming,” celebrated the remarkable milestone of children who once fought for survival inside the hospital’s NICU and now return to share their stories and memories.

“It means a lot to me that they saved my life back then. Now I just want to give back to them,” said Kylie Liang, now 16, a NICU graduate. “I think being a NICU grad and being able to do that is just a blessing.”

Valley Children’s cares for over 1,400 critically ill newborns every year, ranging from children born extremely premature to those born with complex medical conditions.

“We’ll have people who will travel today to come back and see us from as far as the coast and Bakersfield and Modesto,” she added. “Years ago, we decided it was a great opportunity for some of our partners in the community to come talk about the services that may still be important for some of these families that they may not have access to.”

Along with hundreds of attendees and NICU graduates, the event also welcomed different hospital community partners like WIC and La Leche League and more.

The Madera hospital also houses the region’s only Level IV NICU — the highest designation from the American Academy of Pediatrics — providing the most advanced level of neonatal care available right here in the Central Valley.

In addition to its Madera campus, Valley Children’s serves patients throughout the Central Valley, operating NICUs at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, Mercy Medical Center in Merced and Adventist Health Hanford.