When Ellen Moore?s daughter was born premature, she reached out to Dr. Anne-Lise Yohay. The two of them combined their talents, and together a support book for parents was born.
Three years ago, Moore?s daughter, Catherine, was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Children?s Center. Her daughter is doing fine now, but her ordeal opened her eyes to how she could help others.
Searching for support, Moore developed a friendship with Yohay, who worked at Hopkins at the time. Together, the pair developed an idea for the book, and with help from Moore?s employer, Carton Donofrio Partners (CDP), the idea took off, and “A Little Bird Told Me…” was published this spring.
“It?s really neat to see a need in the community and organizations with a standing such as Hopkins and CDP all come together to work and create such a wonderful piece that has been very well-received by parents suffering through a tough situation,” said Moore, a vice president and group account leader at CDP.
CDP agreed to create book for free as a way to give back to the community. CDP spent 18 months getting information and quotes from Yohay and Moore, and as of May, Hopkins? neonatal care unit has a resource for parents in need.
The 21-page book provides not only information, but testimonials. After Hopkins approved the proposal and The Children?s Miracle Network funded it, Yohay began sending out surveys to parents who had visited the neonatal care unit. With CDP working on the book?s design and illustrations, Moore helped focus on content and gathering quotes and testimonials from parents about their experiences.
“Everything in the book comes from the parents,” Yohay said. “We wanted a book that was beautiful and would allow parents to know there were others who had gone through similar experiences.”
