25 Quotes from NFI Members when asked how NFI Founder, Heidelise Als, inspired them.
These inspirations offer a window into how NFI’s member fulfill our mission to bring NIDCAP care to infants and their families worldwide…
These inspirations offer a window into how NFI’s member fulfill our mission to bring NIDCAP care to infants and their families worldwide…
Heidi, and her relationship with [her son], profoundly inform and inspire all of us. Opening ourselves to see and become changed in the process. And in doing so, we create opportunities that change the experiences and lives of others.
—Deborah Buehler, Psychologist, NFI President, NIDCAP Master Trainer, California, USA
We leaned our heads close to the incubator wall, saw a tiny baby resting in a nest and started looking for behavioral cues. Heidi was whispering – explaining what the baby was “telling us”. I was amazed and felt –it was possible to see and understand the baby.
—Agneta Kleberg, Nurse, Senior NIDCAP Master Trainer, Sweden
Heidi has engaged [us] in a lifetime process of collaborative care with parents and professionals, safeguarding a quiet soothing environment for infants and family…changing the future for infants and families everywhere!
[She] planted the seeds and a community has grown and flourished!
—São João NIDCAP Training Center, Porto, Portugal
She entered each room of our unit and spoke with parents as if she had been in touch with them from the very first days of their baby. The parents didn’t understand a word because they didn’t speak English, but they understood Heidi’s smile, her huge empathy, and her emotional touch. Heidi taught me the perfect interaction…
—Natascia Bertoncelli, Nurse, NIDCAP Trainer, Italy
Heidi and her way of transmitting her knowledge with her warmth and magnetism, made me know who I really am as a Neonatologist and what motivated my actions the most when I work with little patients.
—Graciela Basso, Physician, Senior NIDCAP Master Trainer, Argentina
She taught me not to just do my medical work, but to be with the babies and families during each interaction, through observation of those subtle behaviors and reflection of those moments.
—Chao-Huei Chen, Physician, NIDCAP Professional, Taiwan
Heidi… said something like “well, hopefully the baby isn’t recovering from care, but instead looks better later BECAUSE of the care.” That was an ah-ha moment for me. Up to that point I had assumed that NICU care was stressful by nature and our goal was to lessen that stress. Heidi opened my eyes that the care can be a nurturing, positive experience for all involved.
—Jean Powlesland, Nurse, NIDCAP Trainer, Illinois, USA
Professor Heidi changed my eyes and view that premature babies should be treated as a human being and care should be taken individually and based on the baby’s behavioral cues observation in order to avoid impairment and prevent subsequent disabilities
—Marzieh Hasanpour, Nurse, NIDCAP Professional, Iran
A baby’s behavior is always honest and available to be observed and is therefore our anchor. If we are skilled enough to understand this behavior and open enough to believe and respond to what the baby is telling us, it is our guide to shape the baby’s relationships, environment, and care.
—Bieke Bollen, Nurse, NIDCAP Trainer, Belgium
Heidi inspired me to always strive to widen and deepen my lens of perception, and to always find the strengths in any situation or person.
—Jennifer J. Hofherr, Occupational Therapist, NIDCAP Trainer, Ohio, USA
Heidi wrote an inspirational note that I will always cherish. She encouraged me to continue with “…gentle thoughtful persistence, empathy and discipline…and unshakable conviction…to keep moving mountains… [even if] it may appear those mountains shift ever so slightly.”
—Diane Ballweg, Educator, NIDCAP Professional, North Carolina, USA
Listening to her lectures allowed me to see the babies in a different way. She gave me tools to work with babies and their families, always thinking about achieving the best neurodevelopment.
—Rossanna Figueredo, Physician, NIDCAP Professional, Uruguay
Heidi taught me that what is taken for granted should be questioned the most.
—Birgit Holzhüter, Physician, NIDCAP Professional, Germany
“Opportunities and change don’t just happen, you have to work to create it.”
The likelihood that you might struggle should not deter you from continuing to support a cause you believe in.
—Samantha Butler, Psychologist, NIDCAP Trainer, Massachusetts, USA
We need to find a balance between that lifesaving action and individualized, supportive and protective developmental care.
—Stina Klemming, Physician, NIDCAP Trainer, Sweden
Heidi inspired me a lot because of her way of being, her simplicity, her empathy with people, her great sensitivity towards babies and parents of premature babies.
—Mónica Virchez, NICU Parent, Founder and President of Prematura, Spain
I can still see her leaning over a fragile infant in the incubator, putting her hand around her tiny body. So much tender, love, respect, and knowledge in one touch. So much freedom in this restrictive action.
—Ita Litmanovitz, Physician, NIDCAP Professional, Israel
I heard Heidi say to a room full of hundreds of nurses from all around the globe “it doesn’t matter what your unit, what those four walls look like, it is what you do within them that matters.”
—Nadine Griffiths, Nurse, NIDCAP Trainer, Australia
My biggest inspiration is “the babies voice” that they have something to say, that I can hear their voice and see that I’ve understood and helped the baby always bring a smile to my face.
—Eva Jørgensen, Nurse, NIDCAP Trainer, Denmark
“You can always do more than you think”
To find the strength in a fellow human being and build from there has changed my thinking and thus my life.
—Nikk Conneman, Physician, NIDCAP Master Trainer, The Netherlands
Heidi as a person that, beyond everything, will stand for the babies and their families. I learned that there is no compromise possible on what is best for the babies…if you see the baby uncomfortable or overwhelmed, you have to speak up, even to people you work with everyday and it sometimes feels uncomfortable. But the higher goal, is their future!
—Angeline Parez, Nurse, NIDCAP Trainer, Belgium
Heidi was inclusive and appreciated the importance of parents because we work with the healthcare team to provide the most individualized and nurturing care for our babies.
—Yamile Jackson, Engineer, NICU Parent, Founder of The Zaky®
I learned [from Heidi] that everyone is important, different, useful, and capable of integrating teams. Everyone should be given the opportunity to choose their role in each project… Advice that slowly but continuously shaped my “know how”.
—Hercília Guimarães, Physician, NIDCAP Professional Portugal
Learning and teaching to listen to babies and families is the most important thing that we have to do when we take care of them. Heidi’s work helps us to realize that and has impacted the way to take care of vulnerable babies everywhere in the world!
—Delphine Druart, Nurse, NIDCAP Master Trainer, Belgium
Our most sincere gratitude to Heidi for helping us “see” the newborn infant’s strengths and sensitivities, for casting the light on the importance of involving the family from start in the infant’s care… her extraordinary way of “holding us” throughout this ever-continuing process.
—Neonatal Units at Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska NIDCAP Training and Research Center, Stockholm, Sweden
Björn Westrup, Agneta Kleberg, Ann-Sofi Ingman, Carina Branvik-Ingelsson, Siri Lilliesköld, Kajsa Bohlin-Blennow, Hugo Lagercrantz (Physicians, Nurses, NIDCAP Trainers and Professionals)