Hope for HIE is excited to welcome Valerie Martinez as our newest MSW Student Intern, joining us for the next two semesters under the direction of our social worker, Jennifer Schaefer, CAPSW. Valerie Martinez, Social Work Intern Valerie is finishing her Master of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. She comes to this internship with her own connection to […]

The NICU is a place no parent expects to be, yet for many families in our community, it’s where their journey with HIE begins. Those early days can bring uncertainty, questions, and unexpected challenges, and the experience can feel overwhelming at times. NICU Awareness Month is an opportunity to recognize these experiences, honor the resilience of families, and highlight what […]

Housing comes up constantly in conversations across the HIE community; how to organize the space you already have, when to renovate, when to move, and how to plan for a future you can’t fully predict. So Hope for HIE brought three HIE parents together to talk through how they’ve actually navigated it. MSW intern Kimberly Taylor hosted the session, with […]

This month, we opened the floor to the questions we hear most often from our community, the ones that come up again and again in messages, comments, and one-on-one calls. Annie Gunning, Hope for HIE’s Child Life Specialist and Grief Counselor, spent 20+ years working in a hospital child life department before bringing that same expertise into her role with […]

Kimberly Taylor’s internship with Hope for HIE has come to an end, and this community is better because of the time she spent with us. Kimberly joined us from the University of Kentucky, where she has been pursuing her Master of Social Work degree. She completed three practicum semesters with Hope for HIE through August 2026, under the direction of […]

Our community shows up for families touched by HIE in ways big and small. A sign held up in a stadium. A story shared with a stranger. A call to serve as Hospital Ambassador or Peer Support Mentor. Just as often, it’s something quieter: a gift made that funds the work families depend on. Every family finds their own way […]

Most follow-up care after neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) has focused on motor outcomes, like cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and on some early childhood cognitive development. A new scoping review, published July 29, 2026 in the Journal of Perinatology, asks a different question: what happens to a child’s emotional health after HIE — and are we watching closely enough for it? […]

One of the hardest parts of HIE is the waiting. Families often leave the NICU or PICU with test results, medical language, follow-up appointments, and a phrase they may hear over and over: We will have to wait and see. Wait and see how your baby develops. Wait and see whether new challenges appear. Wait and see what the MRI […]

Recently, the Lee family attended a World Cup game in Canada, their home country. They reached out to us, wondering if this could be a good opportunity to help spread awareness of Hope for HIE and HIE to a wider audience. How could they make this experience about more than just the game? Could they try to get Hope for […]

Tuesday, July 7, 2026 was a big deal for the HIE community. Hope for HIE leadership was in Washington, D.C. for the ARPA-H Making Obstetrics Care Smart (MOCS) public kick-off meeting — and we weren’t just in the room. We were driving the patient-family stakeholder perspective forward. Executive Director Betsy Pilon joined the “Collaborator Voices” session alongside Liz Powell, Founder […]