TUPELO, Mississippi—The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at North Mississippi Medical Center's Women's Hospital is participating in the Babies with Books NICU Read-A-Thon, an international reading competition, from Sept. 14-25.

During the Read-a-Thon, NICU families will be encouraged to read with their baby as much as possible. Each family will select a book to keep as a memento of their time in the NICU. 

The families who read the most to their baby during the event will receive a gift basket with books to take home.

The hospital is encouraging donations of new children’s books so that each NICU family may receive one. The goal is to continue this gift long after the Read-A-Thon ends.

Books may be dropped off anytime at the front desk of NMMC Women’s Hospital, 4566 S. Eason Blvd. For more information, call (662) 377-4948.

The 34-bed intensive care nursery treats patients born at the NMMC Women’s Hospital as well as those transferred in from other area hospitals by the neonatal transport ambulance.

Approximately 500 infants are admitted to the NICU annually, with many of them transported to Tupelo from area hospitals.