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Campus’s new ghost writer >>See page 5
Each of the Precious Prints charms are individually packaged and made uniquely for each customer. • Photo Courtesy of UT College of Nursing
Fingerprint project helps grieving families Priya Narapareddy Contributor
Miranda Zolman has helped take fingerprints for Precious Prints charms that are given to families of children who have passed away at UT Medical Center. Zolman, a neonatal nurse practitioner at UT Medical, said she never thought she would be the recipient of a silver fingerprint charm. In January, she and her husband lost their son Elliott at 23 weeks old. A few weeks after Elliott’s death, Zolman said
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she received a Precious Prints charm with his fingerprint. “I haven’t taken it off since,” she said. Families like the Zolmans have been given a tangible memory of their children through the UT College of Nursing’s Precious Prints Project. The Precious Prints Project, which is organized by members of the Student Nurses’ Association, provides families who have lost a child in a Knox County hospital with a silver charm. The charm features the child’s fingerprint and his or her initials on the back. Precious Prints are provided at no cost to the family or the hospital. Fingerprints are taken by nurses and sent to Precious Metal Prints to be
created into charms. The charms featuring the fingerprints will then be mailed directly to the families. The Precious Prints Project began serving families of patients at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in 2012. Since then, Precious Prints has expanded to Parkwest Medical Center, UT Medical Center and Physicians’ Regional Medical Center of Tennova Health Care. Lynne Miller, clinical instructor and director of the Precious Prints Project, said more than 350 families have been served by Precious Prints. Miller described student involvement in the project as “a marriage of education and service.”
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“Students are learning leadership and philanthropy,” she said. Miller said students go to the hospitals to educate the nurses on how to take a child’s fingerprint. She said students also distribute Precious Prints kits and do fundraising for the project. An upcoming fundraiser for the Precious Prints Project is the fourth annual Sprint for the Prints, a 5K run and walk organized by the Student Nurses Association. The race will be held on Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. at Circle Park. See PRECIOUS PRINTS on Page 3
Friday, September 2, 2016