By Tara Wyatt
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON — Santa Claus visited WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital on Friday, Dec. 19 to celebrate the first Christmas with some of the area’s youngest residents born at the hospital in 2025.
The first “Baby’s First Christmas” event was created by the hospital’s Women’s Center, according to CEO Karen Bowling.
“The Women’s Center came up with it. We try to do a lot of things here to show our support for mothers and babies. We deliver a large number of babies in our community, so we wanted to do something fun,” Bowling said.
According to Director of Women’s Services Jackie Mincy, who coordinated the event, the Women’s Center believed it was important to celebrate babies born at the hospital, support mothers on their journey, reunite families with the doctors and nurses who helped deliver their babies, and provide a comforting evening for parents and children.
“We decided to have Baby’s First Christmas because we wanted to celebrate all of the babies that were born here at PCH this year,” Mincy said. “We had probably four staff members who had babies, and I wanted to do something big for everyone in the community because we love our babies, we love what we do here, and we want families to have the chance to see the doctors and nurses who delivered them and celebrate their first Christmas with us.”
Families who attended were able to take photos of their babies with Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and an elf, receive a free ornament and food, and enter free giveaway baskets filled with items to help mothers care for their babies.
Unwavering support from other departments helped ensure the celebration was easy to coordinate, according to Mincy.
“Everyone helped out. The baskets we’re giving away were donated by all the different departments, so we didn’t have to put any money into that. Once we say ‘baby,’ everybody’s super excited,” Mincy said. “The administration is super supportive. They were excited about us adding something to the community and giving back to families who had their babies here. It was a pretty easy process, though it took a couple months of planning to make sure everything fell into place.”
Attendee Serenity Shammaa said she attended the event to give her baby a first Santa experience while reuniting with the care team who helped deliver her child.
“We came to this event to meet Santa for the first time and to make memories at the place where life first started,” Shammaa said. “We just had our first pictures with Santa, and we held it together and did not cry. I think we’re very excited to reunite with our care team. It shows how important their impact is — they’re helping bring children into the world and helping families get set up. This event lets them see the meaning of their work.”
Attendee Heather Ratliff said she thought about mothers who may not have had the opportunity to celebrate their pregnancy or baby’s birth due to low income or being single parents in need of support. She said the event provided helpful gifts and accommodations that some mothers may lack.
“It’s actually really nice. I think it helps moms a lot because we live in a small town and a lot of people don’t have much money. Some moms didn’t get any baby showers or anything,” Ratliff said. “It’s really good that they show support here and have a little party to celebrate their baby. I know a lot of single moms who could use something like this. There are gifts for people who actually need them and food for people who may not get time to eat because when you’re a mom, sometimes you don’t have time to take care of yourself.”
Labor and Delivery nurse Courtney Moore said the event gave her the opportunity to see patients she had cared for throughout the year.
“We just love seeing patients who delivered throughout the year and seeing how their babies have grown,” Moore said. “We’d love for them to come back so we can spend holidays together. I’m really happy with the turnout and excited to see families who have recently delivered.”
Mincy said she plans to continue the event every year.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to give back,” Mincy said. “I’m excited to see all the parents who come here and the babies we haven’t seen since they were first delivered.”
See more from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph