Volunteer makes a difference to babies at University Medical Center

There are many reasons people choose to help others. For Edna Meza Aguirre, the reasons are personal and deeply-rooted in her faith.

"Before I started volunteering here 10 years ago it was right during Lent and I was praying a lot about where do I volunteer. It's very spiritually driven, a very personal thing that I do here so that I can try to give back."

Meza Aguirre spends every other Friday night at University Medical Center as a volunteer in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit.

She works alongside the medical staff and helps bathe, feed, and rock and cuddle the babies. "Just the ability to get this close to someone is incredible," she says.

She does not have children of her own, and feels very comfortable with the fragile children. "I don't walk around going 'look at me and what do I do' but when people ask me about it, they can tell it's something that I feel really wonderful about and it just touches me personally. It really does."

She's one of several volunteers in this particular area of the hospital.

Staff say people like Meza Aguirre are vital to UMC. "She always comes in with a smile. She has helped us a lot," says Deanna Finch, who works in the NICU.

Volunteers are at the hospital around the clock. "They really help support not only the families and the babies but they really help support the nurses, providing very good care to our patients," Finch says.

Meza Aguirre says her late-night work in the quiet hospital is incredibly special to her. "Sometimes I feel like they do so much more for me than I do for them. Just the ability to get this close to someone is incredible."

Sometimes it's not terribly easy. "There are tough circumstances that the children are born into. I mean really tough circumstances," she says.

However, it's always rewarding for everyone. "I feel very grateful to be doing it. I really do. It's a very cool place to be."

For more infomation about becoming a volunteer at the University Medical Center, visit http://www.azumc.com/body.cfm?id=892