The day Lucio Zioco was born, it was far from typical, as he was born prematurely at just 34 weeks old.
“He had to learn how to breathe, swallow, and suck at the same time. So he wasn’t able to eat on his own,” Lucio’s mom Shayla Rodriguez recounted for Action News Jax on Saturday.
Now Lucio is happier and healthier than ever, largely due to the neonatal intensive care unit at HCA Florida Orange Park six years ago.
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Saturday morning, Lucio and many other children were reunited with their caregivers who once gave them a chance at a healthy early childhood, and later life.
“We get to see Michelle, and we always come to see her,” Rodriguez said with her arm around Lucio’s former NICU nurse, Michelle O’Quinn. “She gets to see the baby that she helped get out of a health crisis that he had when he was born. So it’s very imperative that we come to support.”
Among the hundreds of children that go through HCA Orange Park’s NICU unit each year, timeless connections are made between those families, NICU nurses, and officials like O’Quinn.
“He is just full of life and so, so smart,” O’Quinn said about Lucio Saturday with a big smile. “I’m so blessed to be a part of this journey. Just so blessed.”
Now the hope is that the NICU unit at HCA Orange Park can continue making connections and changing lives one child at a time.
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