Virginia hospitals adopt program to promote healthy relationships.
In the past year, more than 7,000 Virginia newborns have been wrapped in LOVE swaddles at hospitals participating in Richmond artist Sunny Goode’s LOVEVOLVE program.
“We provide a swaddle to every new family,” says Karen Shirley, Women’s Services Director at Chippenham Hospital in Richmond. “They spread the message of love and they’ve been so well received by our families and the nursing team. For us, it’s a great partnership.”
Each LOVE blanket comes with an instruction card on how to swaddle a newborn along with a list of the 10 signs of a healthy relationship. “By focusing on new families, we’re starting to flip the system,” says Goode, who cites neurological research by Dr. Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Walkman, authors of Words Can Change Your Brain. “Positive words like ‘peace’ and ‘love’ can alter the expression of genes, strengthening our frontal lobes and promoting cognitive functioning.”
Her LOVEVOLVE program is partnering with the One Love Foundation, which has educated more than one million people on the core principles of healthy relationships in response to the tragic 2010 death of UVA lacrosse player, Yeardley Love.
With three hospitals and one birthing center already on board, Goode plans to expand the love blanket program statewide: “I want to wrap every baby in Virginia in love to see the ripple effect of this one very simple act.”
LovEvolve.com, JoinOneLove.org
This article originally appeared in the October 2021 issue.
