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Miami Palmetto High School senior Jacqueline Banegas is an ambassador for a program called ICU Baby that works with local hospitals to provide emotional, financial, and informational support to families that have babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
She applied for the new Youth Ambassador Program made up of high school students and was chosen for a position. Once an ambassador, she helped raise awareness of the program and she suggested innovations.
ICU Baby services include donating transportation funds to help parents drive to the hospitals, providing food and gifts for parents, getting coffee and snacks for the nurses, and helping families navigate the NICU system.
Because of COVID, she donated money to help the families so they can go to the hospital.
“I’ve donated over 200 meals and care packages,” she says. “I drop them off to the nurses.”
As an ambassador she’s also participated in fundraising and creating a sibling support group.
“Siblings were overlooked,” she says. “We do a lot of special activities, gifts, and special story hours for the siblings.”
That Sibling Support Group at ICU Baby was conceived as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award project. She created the Sibling Support group at ICU Baby. She just completed the project in June.
The volunteers take the siblings outside to certain areas, and they work with the children on crafts. They also give the kids food and gifts.
“I usually look for local donations from Starbucks,” she says. “And books, and blankets for the babies, candles for the moms. And we have people crochet preemie octopus.”
The octopus tentacles give the babies comfort in the incubator and help keep the baby from pulling out wires and tubes.
“I’m very passionate about my work here. I am a South Miami Hospital NICU graduate. I stayed for a month. I was full term.”
Her family’s life changed with her month long stay in the NICU because her lungs were underdeveloped.
Her older sister was confused because she didn’t understand what was going on.
“She remembers coming home from the hospital without me.” Banegas says.
That’s one of the reasons why Banegas created the siblings support program.
Her family’s life changed again when her cousin was born disabled with two major syndromes.
“He had a one in a million chance to get to his first birthday and now he’s four,” she says. “His family is really strong.”
She works with families at South Miami Hospital and Holtz Children’s Hospital.
“I want to help people,” she says. “Some babies end up not surviving. That’s really hard.
That’s why I’m doing everything that I’m doing. ICU Baby, provides for everyone. They help navigate the process.”
Over the summer she participated in the Questbridge College Prep Scholar Program, a young women’s leadership institute program at Barnard Columbia University.
At Palmetto, she’s a varsity cheerleader, a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club, Leo Club and Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT). She is in the Japanese Honor Society and the Student Senate.
She won the PTSA Eleventh Grade Service Award, the AP Scholars Award, and first place in the AFTJ Online Japanese Video Contest.
Banegas is interested in working in criminology, forensics, and the law. She’s in the Forensics program at Palmetto and hopes to work for the FBI one day.
Banegas is still active in Girl Scouts as a council delegate.
“I’m a Girl Scout Leader in training,” she says. “Next year I could be a co-leader.”
She plans to look for a group that needs a co-leader next year.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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