Heath High student raises funds for Western Baptist NICU

Laurie Latham, (left), business development director for the Western Baptist Hospital Foundation, and Polly Bechtold, R.N., vice president of nursing, thank Heath High School student Kristi Street for her recent donation to the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Street raised $855 for the NICU as part of a community service project for her biology class.

Heath High School junior Kristi Street recently donated $855 to the Western Baptist Hospital Foundation to benefit the hospital’s new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Street, 16, chose the NICU as a community service project for her sophomore biology class last year in honor of her nephew, Andrew Byrne. The 17-month-old was transferred to an out-of-state NICU after being born at Western Baptist in 2010. Western Baptist opened the region’s first NICU in January 2011.

“It was for our final exam,” Street said about the project. “We had to pick something really important to us. We did a presentation on it, made a commercial promoting it and had to do 10 hours of community service.”

Street said she wanted to support the local NICU after witnessing the emotional and financial toll her sister and brother-in-law, Shelley and Paul Byrne,  experienced being away from their son for eight days.

 She spoke to local churches and community groups about the NICU and collected donations. She also volunteered at a Western Baptist foundation fundraiser for the NICU. 

For more information about the NICU, visit the hospital’s annual Childbirth Fair from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug.13, in the atrium of Doctor’s Office Building 2.

For information about donating to the NICU, phone the Western Baptist Hospital Foundation at (270) 575-2871.