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Episode 9 features Yamile Jackson, expert parent, Founder and CEO of Nurtured by Design, and award-winning inventor/designer of The Zaky and the Kangaroo Zak. During the episode, Yamile provides a comprehensive overview of Kangaroo Care and ergonomics as related to premature infants and the NICU environment. Yamile also shares her son Zachary’s story of prematurity and survival including a near fatal encounter with a natural disaster during his NICU stay, and how their experience led her to found Nurtured by Design—the first in its class, global leader in neonatal ergonomics. She discusses: The premature birth of her son Zachary at 28 weeks, How Zachary had to be kept alive by hand for 9 hours after Tropical Storm Allison shut down their hospital, How hers and her family’s experience with prematurity led her to invent The Zaky and the Kangaroo Zak, The clinical evidence showing a 50% reduction in apnea and bradycardia events with the use of The Zaky, no events with the use of a maternally-scented Zaky, and 30 times more effective self-regulation with the use of a maternally-scented Zaky, The importance of developmental care and family-centered care in the NICU. Copyright © 2015 The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund, Inc. This episode was produced in part by the TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network. Copyright © 2015 The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund, Inc. The opinions expressed in Speaking of NEC: Necrotizing Enterocolitis (the Podcast series) and by The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund are published for educational and informational purposes only, and are not intended as a diagnosis, treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. Please consult a local physician or other health care professional for your specific health care and/or medical needs or concerns. The Podcast series does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, medical treatments, pharmaceuticals, brand names, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and education of the viewing public, and the mention of any of the above on the Site does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by The Morgan Leary Vaughan Fund.