Dolores Catania, a star of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey”, visited St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital and presented parents of new born babies that needed additional care at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with baby blankets and swaddles.
Cantania (pictured, right) visited the hospital with $100,000 worth of baby items from Aden + Anais Inc. on February 2, 2017. She presented, Lauren Stevens (pictured, center with baby), a mother from Jersey City, with a swaddle for her baby Cooper.
“St. Joseph’s has some of the most skilled and dedicated doctors you will find anywhere and I wanted to do something to help the hospital as well as the parents and their babies,” said in a news release. “This is just one way I can give back to the city (of Paterson) where I was born and that my family called home for many years.”
Cantania received a tour from Dr. Michael Lamacchia, chairman of pediatrics, and Dr. Adel Zauk, chief of Neonatology. She chatted with mothers and visited newborns being cared for at the unit.
“Only very young babies (or babies with a condition linked to being born prematurely) are treated in the NICU – they’re usually infants who haven’t gone home from the hospital yet after being born,” Zauk (pictured, left) explained. “New parents eagerly look forward to bringing their baby home, so it can be stressful if your newborn needs to be admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.”
Catania was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She was raised in Paterson. Her father Lawrence Spagnola served as police chief for the Paterson Police Department.
“I’d like to do this on an ongoing basis with St. Joseph’s and continue to help the hospital and my fellow New Jerseyans,” Cantania said.