The History Behind Our NICU Reunion

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Certified Coordinator Linda Kurz has been with Crouse for over 45 years, and since she started, she has been involved with the NICU reunion.

In 2014, the reunion moved into a bigger space, and there were so many attendees they took an entire floor.

“Our first one [in the new location] was a lot of fun, the theme was princes and princesses. The kids came dressed up as princesses and princes. Some of the staff dressed up, including doctors,” Kurz said.

The following year, the NICU leaped forward, creating a nickname for Crouse’s smallest patients, the Little Fighters, which has been used to describe the NICU babies for the past 11 years.

When our Little Fighters graduate from NICU care and end their stay at the NICU, instead of saying they’re “going home,” the care team refers to it as going to the zoo. When a baby graduates, the family will pose in front of a zoo-themed banner.

Kurz said: “With that in mind, we thought, geez, why don’t we try a reunion at the zoo?” Starting in the summer of 2018, Crouse has held the reunion at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. “This is something I always wanted to do since I got involved with the reunion. It’s a celebration that the kids love, and seeing the families come back is amazing,” Kurz said.

Outside of the reunion, the care team follows up with NICU babies after six months, two years, and more recently, after four to five years.

NICU families send Christmas cards to the unit each year, so many that they now have a whole wall dedicated to the cards. Families travel from hours away for a quick hello in the lobby. Many of the staff regularly keep in touch with families they have bonded with and supported during such a difficult time in the families’ lives.

A family enjoys the 2026 NICU Reunion

When thinking about the future of the NICU reunion, Kurz said: “I just see it growing. We had over a thousand attendees this year for Little Fighters born from 2018 to 2023. Without the Crouse Health Foundation, we probably wouldn’t be able to have the reunion at the zoo. We do it because we want to simply celebrate these families.”

The number of attendees who show up and return year after year to the NICU reunion shows the impact, Kurz says.

She said: “We’ve been holding these reunions for decades. Some of these Little Fighters are well into adulthood now, and sometimes I find myself wondering where they are today. That’s what makes it so meaningful. It means so much that they still remember us. We were there for them during one of the most difficult and traumatic times in their lives, and those connections clearly stay with families long after they leave the NICU.”

Nadia Burton is an intern for the Crouse Communications team.