Pauline Hayes, right, NICU manager, accepts blankets and stuffed animals from Madelyn and Shelby Medley on behalf of the UofL Center for Women & Infants.
Pauline Hayes, right, NICU manager, accepts blankets and stuffed animals from Madelyn and Shelby Medley on behalf of the UofL Center for Women & Infants.

Twins Madelyn and Shelby Medley took an altruistic approach to their eighth birthday this year.

Instead of receiving presents, they told their friends to buy gifts for premature and seriously ill infants in the neonatal intensive care unit at the UofL Center for Women & Infants.

The twins recently delivered soft blankets, stuffed animals and gift cards to the unit and personally gave some gifts to parents visiting their babies.

“He looks like a baby doll,” one of the twins said when they met a baby weighing only 4 pounds.

Pauline Hayes, manager of the NICU, told the girls, “You have no idea how much our babies and their families will appreciate this. The blankets will help keep them warm while their parents hold them.”

The UofL Center for Women & Infants at UofL Hospital offers a Level III NICU, one of the largest in the region, providing care for premature and seriously ill infants.