While most of the families in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit will be spending the holidays away from home and other family members, UAB’s tiniest patients will still be ready to celebrate Thanksgiving in handmade turkey costumes thanks to the UAB Institute for Arts in Medicine program.

Through arts and crafts activities like these Thanksgiving-themed costumes, RNICU and Continuing Care Nursery parents are able to channel creative energy into a festive keepsake they can then show their baby in the future.

The AIM program is a partnership between UAB Medicine and the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center and underscores UAB’s commitment to patient-centered care. AIM endeavors to enhance healing and wellness for patients through the arts. Piloted in 2013, AIM maintains a rotating schedule for a growing number of UAB Medicine units, including the Bone Marrow Transplant Intensive Care Unit, Heart/Lung Transplant ICU, Acute Care for Elders, Hematology/Oncology Infusion Therapy, Women and Infants Services/High-Risk Obstetrics, RNICU, CCN and Center for Psychiatric Medicine.

Babies at UAB’s NICU are extraordinarily blessed to receive the highest medical care by well-trained physicians, nurses and other medical professionals who ensure that the infants get the opportunity to thrive, despite prematurity or other health obstacles. (Savannah Koplon/UAB)