Ken Rahn, pitmaster and owner of Bringeth the Meat BBQ, is headed to the grill to give back to Women & Infants Hospital, a Care New England hospital. In 2016, Ken plans to donate quarterly two percent of his business’ sales to the Women & Infants neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). “Our rationale is that we owe a debt to the NICU that we can never repay…without the NICU, neither of our children would have survived,” said Ken.
Ken and his wife Paige, have two children: Julia, born at 29 weeks and now a thriving six-year-old and William, born at 27 weeks, now 16 months old and hoping to grow out of a chronic lung disease in a few years caused by his prolonged intubation. Both were born prematurely due to preeclampsia, a disease of the placenta – an organ that provides food, oxygen and nutrients to the baby. Preeclampsia pregnancy occurs in six to eight percent of all pregnancies in the United States, usually during the second or third trimester, and can affect the health of the mother and her child.
The Rahns have been looking for ways to give back ever since they took William home. “When I started the BBQ company, it seemed like the perfect vehicle for giving back. My plan is to set aside five percent of gross sales and disburse it at the end of each quarter. Two percent will go to the Women & Infants NICU, and the other three percent would be spread out among other worthy causes,” expressed Ken.
About the Women & Infants Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Women & Infants operates one of the nation’s largest single-family room neonatal intensive care units (NICU), where the latest technology and highly skilled specialists care for babies born prematurely or sick. The NICU provides comprehensive care through the coordinated efforts of social workers, occupational therapists, nutritionists, respiratory therapists, neonatal nurses, neonatal nurse practitioners, neonatal-perinatal fellows, and attending neonatologists and pediatricians. Practitioners skilled in the care and stabilization of sick newborns are available in-house 24 hours a day. The single-family room model also encourages families to be actively involved in their baby’s care.