St. Monica Elementary School to Mark World Prematurity Day on November 16

To mark World Prematurity Day, teacher Sandra Banon from St. Monica Elementary School (6440 Terrebonne) in NDG will encourage her students to wear purple to class on Wednesday, November 16 and raise funds for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Jewish General Hospital.

Sandra is the mother of a former preemie who was born at 26 weeks. Her son attends nearby Royal Vale School.

World Prematurity Day is November 17. It will be marked that morning (10:30 am) in the main lobby of the JGH. Spearheaded by The Tiny Miracle Fund, an initiative of the JGH Auxiliary, the program helps raise awareness of the magnitude of pre-term births and the miracles happening every day in the hospital. The commitment to support these tiniest and most vulnerable patients through the purchasing of vital medical equipment for the NICU is an important objective. Dr. Apostolos Papageorgiou, the world renowned Chief of Pediatrics and Neonatology at the JGH, will be in attendance speaking on behalf of the NICU team. Other speakers will include former NICU children and parents. There is a new state-of-the-art NICU at the JGH which opened last January in Pavilion K.

To date, the Tiny Miracle Fund has raised more than $250,000 through various auxiliary fundraising projects. The Auxiliary has committed $500,000 to the hospital’s new neonatal intensive-care unit.