Remembering Ann Reitenbach
Patti DePompei, RN, MSN, President, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and MacDonald Women’s Hospital is saddened to share the passing of devoted University Hospitals caregiver and friend, Ann Reitenbach.
UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s lost one of its brightest stars in April 2020, Nurse Manager Ann Reitenbach. Ann began her career in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in 1979. Her passionate commitment and focus to babies, families, and staff was unwavering. Ann was a leader who was an integral part of many important projects and initiatives throughout her tenure, including changes in practice to maximize parental participation in care, the design and construction of the Quentin & Elisabeth Alexander Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the first specifically designed surgical table for neonatal patients.
Reading to neonatal patients was important to Ann. In her memory, UH Rainbow staff established a Read-A-Thon. Held annually in September, Ann's coworkers participate in National Neonatal Nurse's Week by reading to babies in the NICU.
"While we will miss Ann each and every day, her legacy will live on through every child whose future is so much brighter because of her," shared Daniel I. Simon, MD, President, Academic & External Affairs and UH Chief Scientific Officer, Ernie and Patti Novak Distinguished Chair in Health Care Leadership. "Thank you, Ann. We are forever in your debt."
We are incredibly grateful for Ann and all of her years of continuous support for University Hospitals.
To honor Ann's legacy, gifts made in her memory will be used to purchase Neill Wright's "Small Pleasures" to hang near the NICU at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.