TEMPLE, Texas — Baylor Scott & White McLane Children's Medical Center said it filled its four vacant 'baby cuddler' volunteer positions, after it received 500 applications.
Spokesperson Tiya Searcy said the hospital is grateful for the community stepping up, but baby cuddling is just one role a volunteer may have.
"It's great when everyone decides to give back when it comes to volunteering," Searcy said. "There's a wide variety of roles our volunteers fulfill."
Those roles include running the hospital's Star Flower Gift Shop, giving orientations to newly admitted families, navigating families through the hospital and much more.
Searcy said the baby cuddlers hold babies in the neonatal intensive care unit that are able to be held. The unit takes care of ill or premature infants.
"There's specific needs in the NICU, and some babies can't even be moved," she said.
The cuddling helps the babies with their breathing, body temperatures and heartbeat, Searcy said.
The cuddlers typically hold babies when the mothers need to go back to work immediately, or take care of the babies' siblings, she said.
Baylor Scott & White said it has a wide range of volunteers, from high school students to retirees.
"I'd like to thank the community for their overwhelming support and interest in volunteering, and the volunteers we already have here," Searcy said.
