Meet the “ICU granddad” who volunteers to cuddle newborns

To parents of premature babies, often facing a lenghty stay in the intensive care unit before they are allowed to come home, one of the hardest parts of it all is having to leave your baby in the hospital, be it because you have to tend to other children at home or just to leave the hospital for a while to hang onto your sanity. This was certainly the case for US mum Mary Beth Brulotte, whose son Logan was born three and a half months early and required a long stay in the intensive care unit at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia. To Brulotte, who lives two hours away from the hospital with her husband and eight-year-old daughter, it filled her with guilt having to leave her infant in the ICU, even for a few hours. “Every mom pictures their baby in their crib all alone crying,” Brulotte recently told TODAY. However, one day, having had to leave baby Logan for a few hours, Brulotte arrived back at the hospital only to find old pensioner David Deutchman cradling her sleeping baby. “I was heading in and was filled with anxiety," Brulotte explained. "It was just wiped away when I saw him there holding Logan fast asleep. He introduced himself as the ‘ICU grandpa’ and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this can’t be real. This man is like an angel.' He said he heard Logan crying and asked the nurse if he could hold him and sing him to sleep.” As it turns out, Deutchman, 82, had been volunteering at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s ICUs for more than 12 years. On Tuesdays, the pensioner explains, he spends time with older children at the pediatric ICU, and on Thursdays he makes rounds at the neonatal ICU, where he holds babies whose parents can’t be with them that day. Speaking to Today, the retired grandfather explains that he began volunteering after he retired from a career in international business marketing. He became a guest lecturer at nearby universities, but found he still had too much free time. One day, he was at a rehab facility for a running injury that happened to be next to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, when he thought it might be rewarding to see if there were any volunteer opportunities there. “I like the fact that I have an opportunity to make a contribution and help out,” Deutchman explains. “You don’t know each day what you’re going to find and what you’re going to be confronted with … It’s an atmosphere where there’s a lot of friendliness and warmth and appreciation. It’s great. I really enjoy it.” As well as cradling babies, Deutchman explains that often, it is parents who need a little looking after in this stressful time too. “In the hospital, the kid is getting a lot of the attention from the doctors and the nurses," he said. "I found quickly that my niche could be taking care of moms. I go into the room and ask how they are doing, if they’ve had breakfast, and if they haven’t, to go. I tell them, ‘I won’t leave the room until you come back.’” He added that oftentimes when he asks how the parents are doing, they tell him about their child. “I repeat, ‘No. How are you doing? Sometimes they break down. Some are up all night in stressful conditions.” The kind-hearted granddad typically volunteers from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., two days a week, and explains he will usually hold just two to three babies in one shift, because he likes to hold them for an hour or longer. “It breaks my heart to put them in the crib so they are alone again,” he told TODAY, adding, “I think it’s important to hold the babies so they feel snuggly.” To Brulotte, having Deutchman at the hospital has meant the world. “I don’t feel so alone in this journey," the mum of two explains. "I’ve felt like at all times, someone is there with my baby, regardless of whether I’m here or not. That’s what really touched me. (Deutchman) doesn’t even know me, doesn’t know my family and he didn’t care. He heard Logan crying and rushed right in and soothed him. It’s those type of people that don’t search for the recognition that deserve it. I think he’s just incredible.” Deutchman, who has been volunteering at the hospital for a decade, explains he has no plans to stop anytime soon. “At my age there are times you don’t have a lot of energy," he said, "but I find that I’m energized when I go in."