Birdies Fore Babies Golf Tourney to Benefit NICU

July 16, 2008 – (Fort Smith, AR) The fourth-annual Birdies Fore Babies Golf Tournament, hosted by the St. Edward Mercy Foundation, will benefit the St. Edward Mercy Medical Center Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Registration for the two-lady scramble will take place at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, July 28 at Fianna Hills Country Club with the shot-gun start at 8:30 a.m.

Team registrations are due to the tournament co-chairs by Monday, July 21. The tournament is limited to the first 40 teams that register and pay in full.  Players have the chance to win a 2008 Lexus IS 250 sedan from Lexus of Tulsa in a hole-in-one contest.

“Our NICU is the only Level III nursery in this region,” said St. Edward Mercy Foundation executive director Regina Mason. “The facility helps so many babies and their families by providing care locally so that families can stay close to home.”

A luncheon will be held after the tournament with parents speaking about their personal experiences with the St. Edward Mercy NICU.
“As a mother I am so thankful for Dr. Coloso and his staff. If they would have not been there the night Alex was born, things could have turned out differently,” said Christina Stengel, a mother of a NICU baby and speaker at the luncheon. “I gave him life but they gave him a chance.”
In 2007, the tournament raised over $30,000 with 32 teams playing.

St. Edward Mercy Medical Center launched the NICU in November 2006 when it hired neonatologist Dr. Victor Coloso. The NICU serves babies born at 26 weeks of gestation and later. The NICU nursery has a 25-isolette capacity and has served almost 500 babies and their families since the nursery opened.

To register for the Birdies Fore Babies Golf Tournament, contact tournament co-chairs Nancy Ciulla at 479-452-4380 or Arleen Donelson at 479-410-2203. For more information about the St. Edward Mercy Foundation, contact Regina Mason at 479-314-1133.