A 73-year-old grandfather has spent eight years cuddling the tiniest patients at a children’s hospital – and he says it’s the best gig he’s ever had.
Twice a week, Dave Whitlow walks into the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU with one job: hold the babies fighting to grow.
“It’s the best gig I’ve ever had. It just feels right,” Whitlow said.
Whitlow isn’t a doctor or a nurse, though. He’s a volunteer cuddler, and he’s shown up every Tuesday and Thursday for eight years. On a typical visit he holds five or six babies, but on busy days, as many as eight, some weighing under 2 pounds.
He gowns and gloves up before every hold, and leaves his phone outside the unit so he’s distraction free. “I pretty much just want to be with them,” he said.
Many of the children he comforts are long term patients, whose parents are often juggling caring for other kids, their own work commitments and even living hours away from the hospital.
It all means, the babies aren’t always with some round-the-clock, which is where Whitlow comes in.
Before he picks a baby up, he aways checks in with the nurse on duty to get their story.
“I ask the nurse, ‘Tell me. Tell me what this child is receiving. What kind of treatment? Is there anything special I need to know about it,'” he said.
Once he’s holding a baby, his eyes go straight to the monitors to keep an eye on their condition see if he can help soothe them, he says.
“I watch the monitors first to see whether positionally there’s anything to do to improve.”
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A retired local government manager with more than 40 years on the job, and a father of two and grandfather of three, Whitlow admits he was nervous the first time he walked in.
“I was scared to death because, you know, I’d held my own kids – we have two children. But they’re grown now,” he said.
Before he sets each baby back down, he says the same three things, one for each word he wants to leave behind: grow strong, grow smart, grow kind.
“It’s important to me to think that this is what I want from people in general,” he said.
Eight years in, Whitlow calls the unit a family he never expected to find – and can’t imagine leaving.
