Miss Missouri Visits Freeman NICU

McKensie Garber, Miss Missouri 2015, recently made a stop at Freeman Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The visit offered the Missouri native an inside look into caring for Freeman Health System’s youngest patients.

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is the official platform for the Miss America Organization. Participants competing in Miss America-sponsored pageants raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the Miss America Scholarship Fund. Since 2007, the partnership has raised more than $10 million for Children’s Miracle Networks Hospitals across the United States.

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals provides assistance to children from birth to 21 years of age in a 14-county area in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. All money raised stays local, helping children with medical needs and their families. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals helps furnish and maintain Freeman NICU, provides funding for local community organizations pediatric needs and provides pediatric emergency equipment for area agencies.

Garber will continue to represent Missouri until the next winner is crowned in June 2016.

McKensie Garber, Miss Missouri 2015, holds a baby receiving care in Freeman NICU.

About Freeman Health System
Locally owned, not-for-profit and nationally recognized, Freeman Health System includes Freeman Hospital West, Freeman Hospital East, Freeman Neosho Hospital and Ozark Center – the area’s largest provider of behavioral health services – as well as two urgent care clinics, dozens of physician clinics and a variety of specialty services. For 2016, Freeman earned dozens of individual awards for medical excellence and patient safety from CareChex®, a quality rating system that helps consumers evaluate healthcare providers. U.S. News & World Report ranked Freeman one of the top Hospitals in Southwest Missouri more than four years in a row, and The Leapfrog Group gave Freeman the highest grade possible in the Fall 2015 Hospital Safety Score. With more than 300 physicians on staff representing more than 60 specialties, Freeman provides cancer care, heart and vascular care, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopaedics, children’s services and women’s services. Additionally, Freeman is the only Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in a 70-mile radius. For more information, visit freemanhealth.com or facebook.com/freemanhealthsystem or follow Freeman President and Chief Executive Officer Paula Baker at twitter.com/free