Austin’s Playroom Project was started as a result of my own personal experience while caring for my infant son Austin. Mario and I were young parents when Austin was born prematurely and spent 71 days in the NICU at Magee-Womens Hospital. While we were caring for Austin, there was no place to provide a comfortable calming environment and engage his two sisters, Lauren and Stephanie, who were both toddlers at the time. It was on my first Mother’s Day with Austin that Mario and I realized a need for playrooms and began to craft our plan to someday raise the necessary funds to do so in western Pennsylvania and beyond.

As the chair of Austin’s Playroom Project, our goal is to benefit families and improve the quality of a child’s hospital experience whether as a visitor or patient by establishing cheerful playrooms that are safe, calming and comfortable. Family centered care is very important, as well as part of the Lemieux Foundation’s mission, and each Austin’s Playroom has been created to do just that. We have established 27 playrooms since 2000, and I hope to continue to create playrooms as long as there is a need. Opening each and every playroom is like a dream come true.

                                                                   -Nathalie Lemieux