Press Photo Ovidio Fernandez with nurses who helped found Wee Care for daughter

Ovidio Fernandez, with nurses Pat Minella and Sandra Mitchell, helped found the Wee Care program after the birth of his own premature daughter. Although her stay on Earth was brief - just a little over a month - Jessica Fernandez touched in an enduring way the lives of those who knew and loved her. "The nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit at Lakeside Hospital cried and some took a leave of absence when Jessica died," says her father, Ovidio Fernandez. "I had always been told that people who do that kind of work were immune to the heartache associated with premature births. But that's not so. Those wonderful nurses care, and they care deeply.

Photo is undated.

Photo measures 10 x 8 inches.