By MARY-JUSTINE LANYON | Editor, the Alpine Mountaineer newspaper
Since Linda West-Conforti established Angels in Waiting in 2005, nurses have rescued thousands of medically fragile children.
West-Conforti, a neonatal intensive care nurse, saw how these children were being placed in foster homes without the proper care.
Over 60 years ago, West-Conforti told the Women’s Club of Lake Arrowhead, President Lyndon Johnson created a program that enabled nurses to take these medically fragile children home. However, the program lay dormant for decades. Angels in Waiting resurrected the program, giving nurses priority placement for these children.
Not only do the nurses take the children home to care for them – 90% of those children are adopted by the nurses. “Once they call you Mommy, you’re done,” West- Conforti said.
She showed the women a video from the show The Doctors in which she and a couple of the other nurses were interviewed. Many of these children are born to mothers addicted to drugs. During the show, West-Conforti talked about meeting Sammy – a medically fragile baby she took home to care for. “He looked at me with his blue eyes,” she said.
West-Conforti adopted Sammy, who is now 22. She has taken more than 17 infants and children “into her heart” and adopted three. In addition to Sammy she adopted Anthony, now 19, and Autumn, now 16.
This is not a program for every nurse, West-Conforti admits. “It is the most challenging nursing career but also the most rewarding,” she said. “These little babies need so much just to survive. They need a lot of attention.”
Now there are more than 500 nurses in the Angels in Waiting network.
Nancy Van Buskirk – who was instrumental in getting Angels in Waiting started
– told the women how they designed a stuffed penguin as a comfort for these children. Following the Sandy Hook school shooting, they sent penguins to every student in the school. Because the children find it difficult to talk about their fears, they can write them down and put them in the penguin’s little pouch.
Since then, they have sent penguins to the children who have experienced similar events.
Polly Sauer, the past president of the Women’s Club, noted they have donated in the past to help fund the cost of the penguins.
For more information on Angels in Waiting visit angelsinwaitingusa.org.
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