Speaker: Jasmine Mason, CEO, JMason Foundation
Tell us a little bit about you and your organization or company?
Jasmine Mason: Hello there. My name is Jasmine. I'm the CEO of Jay Mason Foundation. I started Jay Mason Foundation in 2018 after the loss of my daughter. At 19.5 weeks, I began the organization by providing green support to families. However, I expanded to add free baby items to low income families and do the services.
Tell us why NICU Awareness Month is important to you.
Jasmine Mason: Nu Awareness Month is important to me because my son spent six days in the nu after he was born. So the day that he was born, he was delivered via Cesarean section. And that same night he went to the nu, he had feeding issues. He also had blood sugar issues and the nurses wanted him to stay there until he was able to bring his blood sugar up and he was able to feed on his own without assistance. So during that time, he had to be pricked in his foot every few hours to get his blood sugar tested. He also had tubes going down his nose to help him feed just as we thought he was getting better during his stay. He would do good for a little while and then go back to not doing as well as we thought. So that led to us having him there for six days.
If you could give a current NICU parent one piece of advice, what would you say?
Jasmine Mason: A little advice I would give to a current nu parent is to stay encouraged. I know that seeing your child in the nu can be difficult because it was difficult for me as well. It was hard for me to try to go see my son in the and it was also hard for me to be without him in the hospital room. However, there is hope, find your passion and being in a if you are religious, you can pray, you can journal and you do have support. There are a community of people out here to support you um who are also Nikki parents. So please lean on your village.
