'ICU Grandpa' Gets Puked On, Peed On, Loves Every Minute

Meet David Deutchman, aka 'ICU Grandpa,' who cuddles preemies at Atlanta hospital
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2017 12:45 PM CDT
'ICU Grandpa' Has Comforted More Than 1K Babies
We love you, ICU Grandpa!   (Facebook)

You'll probably wish David Deutchman were your grandpa after reading about him, but then that would mean all of the tiny babies at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta would miss out. People reports on the 82-year-old's efforts at the Georgia hospital, where for the past 12 years the "ICU Grandpa" has held and cuddled more than 1,000 infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Deutchman comes in two times a week to help soothe and comfort babies, a role he started filling a few years after retiring as a marketing executive in 2000. A hospital Facebook post from last week explains that Deutchman spends much of his time holding babies whose parents may not be able to be with them that day because they're taking care of other children at home or have other obligations that keep them from their babies.

And those parents are extremely grateful. "We live two hours from [the hospital], and seeing [our baby] all snuggled up when I got there was such a blessing," one mom says, per USA Today. Deutchman, who's married with two daughters and two grown grandkids, tells People of that "warm connection" babies feel when they're held, as well as the stress he's able to relieve in the concerned moms. "Having somebody tell them they can go get breakfast and assure them I'll be there with their baby, it means something to them," he says. He doesn't even mind the inevitable side effects. "Sometimes I get puked on, I get peed on. It's great," he says in a hospital video, per CNN. (More uplifting news stories.)

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