FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 16, 2006
CONTACT: Tom Hanley, Public Relations Director
860.545.9954 or pager 860.220.3562 

"CEREMONY AT CONNECTICUT CHILDREN’S MEDICAL CENTER NICU TO DEDICATE 'CAROLINE’S ROOM' JUNE 21 @ 10 A.M."

HARTFORD, Conn.— Caroline’s Room is the inspiration of WTNH TV8 reporter Jocelyn Miminta and her husband, Gary Doyens, whose premature daughter, Caroline, died in the New Born Special Care Unit at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital nearly 10 years ago. She was two months old. The concept of Caroline’s Room grew from their gratitude for the skilled and dedicated care that Caroline received, and their appreciation of the need of families of children in neonatal intensive care for a place where they can find privacy, comfort, and dignity.

The “Caroline’s Room” at CCMC will be the fifth such room the Doyens have helped create at children’s hospitals across the country. The first Caroline’s Room was established in Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital’s New Born Special Care Unit in 1998. In 2002, Gary and Jocelyn worked with the local chapter of the March of Dimes to raise funds for Caroline’s Rooms at Covenant Medical Center and the University Medical Center at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, Texas. The March of Dimes chapter also was instrumental in gaining the financial support of Ronald MacDonald Charities to fund the creation of Caroline’s Room at Odessa Regional Hospital in Odessa, Texas, in 2003.

In 2005 Jocelyn and Gary Doyens brought their proposal for a Caroline’s Room to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center as a natural complement to the department’s family-centered philosophy of care. Timing was also right, as the hospital’s NICU was in the midst of a significant expansion project.

LEGO Corporation came forward with a major donation, augmented by grants from New Alliance Bank, the Angel Fund, and several individual donors. Edith Whitman of Edith Whitman Interiors in Avon donated her services to the cause, and a number of others contributed their services or charged reduced rates. Edith Whitman developed a master design plan that was based on maximizing space, creating a comfortable and elegant “living room” ambience, all while adhering to appropriate safety standards and working with pre-existing and/or required elements in the room. Caroline’s Room at CCMC features traditional and custom-designed furnishings, window treatments, lighting, and wallpaper. Artwork, including a limited edition of Mystic Seaport and originals by Granby, Connecticut artist Carole Day, adds warmth and interest to the room. Behind the lush design elements the room is wired for medical monitoring equipment so that babies can stay in the room with their families.

“We are thrilled with the beauty of the furnishings and honored to have a Caroline’s Room where families can bond in comfort, especially at a time of stress with the struggles of a premature or critically ill newborn,” said Victor Herson, MD, Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.