In 2014, Elizabeth Simonton’s son was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Amid overwhelming circumstances, she noticed that many other babies receiving care in the NICU did not have family members at their bedside. Competing challenges like work, transportation, and caring for siblings at home, in addition to the emotions involved with having a sick child, kept parents away. Determined to change that reality, Elizabeth brought together a dedicated group of people who shared her vision of ensuring that no NICU family would have to navigate the experience alone. Together, they founded ICU baby in 2014, building an organization that has grown into a comprehensive support system for families with babies in the NICU. Today, on International Day of Care and Support, we spotlight the importance of supporting care workers and the way ICU baby is building support for caregivers.
ICU baby offers much needed and often overlooked support for NICU families in Miami-Dade County, Florida, providing them with financial, emotional, and informational resources so that families and babies can thrive together. In 2024, 10.7% of babies in Miami-Dade County were admitted to a NICU because they were premature.
Support for NICU Families
ICU baby’s integrated model helps ease some of the stress and burdens these families face. Their work addresses the emotional, financial, practical, and informational needs of families through programs like meaningful meals, parent mentors, and NICU packs. To better serve families, ICU baby developed the NEST Mobile App to provide easy access to their programs and resources.
“We envisioned the app as a home base for NICU families,” shared Elizabeth, Co-Founder and Executive Director of ICU baby. “We can’t always be physically beside every family, but we wanted our resources and support to be there whenever they needed them.”
In 2025, ICU baby worked with a team of corporate volunteers through the NBCUniversal Talent Lab PRO BONO program, a skills-based volunteering program that leverages employees’ professional expertise to address nonprofit needs. Facilitated by Pyxera Global, the project focused on improving the app’s user experience and overall functionality so it can better support NICU families when they need it most.
The Value of Skills-Based Expertise
The app is a free resource, but the ICU baby team recognized that providing access doesn’t mean families will use the resources; the app must encourage its users to make full use of its benefits.
“User experience was always important to us, but, as a nonprofit, we didn’t have the specialized expertise to fully bring that vision to life. That’s where NBCUniversal brought tremendous value. They were specialists who could take our deep understanding of NICU families and the content we had developed and transform it into something truly exceptional,” noted Elizabeth.
By collaborating with NBCUniversal’s skilled volunteers, ICU baby aimed to improve the app by increasing its usefulness to the NICU families that need it. Over the course of five weeks (one in-person, four virtual), collaboration with the NBCUniversal employees helped Elizabeth and her team realize that, while they understood the medical terminology and how their programs support families, the information may not have been clear to a parent whose baby needed intensive care. The volunteers encouraged ICU baby to put themselves in the shoes of the user: what does a NICU family need first? Will they be able to find it? Asking these important questions then informed navigation and overall user experience.
“We started by getting all of their ideas on the table, then worked together to determine what was feasible in the near term and what could be implemented longer-term,” shared Claudine Hernandez, Manager, Growth Strategy, NBCUniversal. “Being a team member based in Miami, I had the opportunity to join ICU baby at one of their hospital events for NICU families and hear directly from parents about what they need day to day. That really helped bring the work to life for me.”
Where is the ICU baby App now?
ICU baby has implemented a majority of the NBCUniversal volunteers’ recommendations, including updating navigation, making sure resources are findable, rewriting content so parents can understand it, and adding more images.
Elizabeth shared, “I would love to see the app become a trusted companion that helps parents understand the NICU environment, prepare for conversations with their baby’s medical team, document important milestones, find community resources, and connect with ICU baby when they need additional support.”
In August 2026, ICU baby launched the next version of the app, incorporating the recommendations the NBCUniversal team provided. Early numbers are encouraging with returning users increasing from approximately 1 in 3 users in August to 1 in 2 (51%) in September.
ICU baby currently supports over 1,000 families annually across its five partner hospitals: HCA Florida Healthcare, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, South Miami Hospital, and UHealth Jackson.
Five weeks. A team of NBCUniversal volunteers. A stronger app for NICU families across Miami-Dade County.
Your employees have skills that small nonprofits can’t hire for. Pyxera Global designs and facilitates skills-based volunteer programs that put those skills to work on a real project, with a clear scope, and a partner who is ready for them.
