Mending Hearts donates anew to CHCC’s NICU

Cathy McRoberts, who founded the nonprofit group Mending Hearts that regularly makes a donation to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., was on island this year to deliver in person the items that she and Mending Hearts have made each year in memory of her granddaughter, Ella Marie.

Mending Hearts is a group from Cedar Falls, Iowa that McRoberts started because of her granddaughters, Ella Marie and Emma Jo, who were born prematurely on Saipan, to Amie McRoberts. Both girls, born at just 28 weeks, weighed in at only 2lbs 4oz. At the time of their birth, the neonatal intensive care unit at the Commonwealth Health Center was a very different place than it is now. Both girls were too small and had way too many tubes and lines to get to wear clothes while in the NICU on Saipan. They instead were wrapped in Saran Wrap to stay warm.

When Emma Jo arrived at the Radys Hospital in San Diego, she was immediately given a little kimono to wear. That moment changed everything. Amie and Cathy felt like they had a “real” baby to take care of, fight for, and love. At 37 days old, Emma Jo was held and dressed for the first time. It was a magical moment, but also a very sad moment. Ella Marie had passed away at CHCC without ever getting the chance to have been held or dressed. From that moment on, Cathy McRoberts made it her mission to make sure no other baby on Saipan had that same experience.

Since then, Mending Hearts has donated hundreds, if not thousands, of blankets, kimonos. GI-tube covers, pillow cases, hats and lovies to hospitals around the world, including their yearly donation to CHCC. Last Dec. 23, 2023, Mending Hearts donated almost 50 sets of hats, blankets, lovies and kimonos to share with babies in the NICU. They also donated around 40 GI-tube covers to the hospital’s Children’s Clinic.

This year was also special because Cathy McRoberts was able to meet for the first time the NICU nurses that took care of Ella Marie and Emma Jo on Saipan. (PR)