Leanne Colmer (left), Tash Hodges, and Blossom Taylor at Waikato Hospital's NICU unit. Photo / Malisha Kumar
Hamilton beauty students treated mums with bubs in the hospital neonatal intensive care unit to a little break from what can be a tough time.
Students at the Elite School of Beauty and Spa recently spent a day at Waikato Hospital’s NICU, offering free facials, massages, and manicures/pedicures to mums and dads.
The visit was organised by whānau navigator and registered nurse at Waikato Hospital Tash Hodges, who reached out to the school.
Some babies have been in the NICU from as early as 22 weeks old until “full term”, meaning parents are also in the unit for that time.
Hodges said while babies were the primary patients in NICU, the hospital’s objective was “whānau-centred care”, so the parents also needed to be looked after.
“We need to make sure that we’re prioritising their [parents’] well-being so that they can show up for their babies,” Hodges told the Waikato Herald.
“We can do the medical things to their baby, but actually, their parents are the most important part of this system of care.
“The babies that have their parents present are the ones that do so much better.”
Hodges said both mothers and fathers took up the spa treatments.
“The mums [are] here, pumping and doing all that, but the dads are also here taking care of the mums, being back at work, keeping the house running.
“It was important for us not to forget about them.”
Hodges said the event was well-received, also because some families would otherwise not be able to afford a massage or facial.
Leanne Colmer, a health social worker at the hospital, agreed, saying most families who came through the NICU were there for a few months.
“They can’t afford to go and get a message, to get their pampering done, and yet our mums are the ones that are here day in day out,” she said.
“Because this is the most important thing in their lives, their pēpi.”
She said the visit from the beauty school had “lifted the spirits of our whānau”.
“The smiles that day were just from here to here.”
Blossom Taylor, 21, was among the mums who got a manicure and pedicure, and a shoulder and facial massage.
Taylor has been in the NICU with her son, Waikawau, for three months.
Waikawau was born at 26 weeks old.
She said he is her “biggest blessing in life” and now, at 38 weeks old, was doing better.
Taylor said the unit is a “high-stress zone”, and the pampering session helped take her mind off it.
“I really needed that break,” Taylor said.
“It’s so stressful in here, thinking about timing and the care of my child, and there’s never really a break.
“You don’t get to stop thinking, even if you’re sitting having a cup of tea, you’re thinking about his next feed, his next nappy change, all of those things, and not wanting to step away.”
Taylor said it was great receiving the spa treatment in the NICU, just a room away from her son.
“If I was taken out of the unit, I most likely wouldn’t do it.”
She said the spa treatments “mentally refreshed” her.
“It paused the world, and I needed that.”
Elite School of Beauty and Spa team leader Hannah Sikking said they had been part of the free spa treatment initiative in the past, but it had not run for a long time.
Previous student cohorts also provided free treatments at hospices, retirement villages and youth hospice Rainbow Place.
Sikking said the students’ visit to Waikato Hospital’s NICU was close to her heart, because her son had to stay there for a short time three years ago.
“I have [a] huge appreciation for them,” she said.
She said that aside from the visit’s benefits for families with babies in NICU, the free pampering sessions also made a difference to the students.
“It gives them a different lens to look through and opens their eyes to the challenges [and] struggles people can face.”
Elite student Dianne said it was a rewarding experience.
She said it gave her a “warm feeling” to do something nice for people who are going through an “unimaginable time”.
“If anyone deserves a free pampering, it’s those mums in there,” she said.
Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.