The Chocolate Extravaganza

Last night I helped with the Chocolate Extravaganza, a gala benefiting the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. It was a wonderful night! I got all dressed up, put my pearls on (I had to wrestle with Mary-Gail to give them back :O), and arrived early to help with the final details for the evening.

My job as one of the many volunteers was to seat the patrons after they checked in. The price per seat was $150, or you could purchase a table, which sat 8, for $1,000! We had 38 round tables set up in the UVSC Ballroom, and each table was full. It was a wonderful night! I already said that, but truly being a part of this annual event was amazing. So many beautiful, put-together people arrived and opened their hearts and pocket-books to support the NICU.

There was a silent auction and then a live auction. I'd never been to an auction before and it was a quick, finger-snapping event. A week trip to France, a 4 day stay at a private home in a gated community in Maui, a spa package, and so many other things were auctioned. The coolest item up for bid was a SIM MANIKIN baby. This baby can simulate most situations the nurses and doctors will experience when a baby is in distress and needs NICU attention. The nurses and NNP's did a simulation for us: baby was in respiratory distress. They intubated baby, NNP listened to the heart beat (less than 60 beats/min), they bagged the baby and started chest compressions, listened to the heart beat again (getting closer to 100 beats/min), continued bagging baby and finally baby's color was pink, and baby had tone. You could actually hear the baby cry, see the color go from gray to pink, and see the baby's arms move as she got tone. Each SIM MANIKIN is priced at $15,000, and the NICU said they needed 3.

Although no one purchased a SIM MANIKIN, there were more than 10 guests who pledged $250 each towards the purchase of one. Not bad.