The Harris Health System delivers approximately 7,000 babies annually. Many of these newborns are born to mothers who are often uninsured or underinsured. For these women, providing for a newborn isn’t a given. There are no baby showers, no boxes of newborn diapers, or even a crib waiting at their home or shelter. Family support is sometimes limited or non-existent.
The New Beginnings program formally began in 2008 when Woodlands resident Kay Bollinger answered a calling to make a difference in Harris County. Kay met with Ben Taub Hospital social workers to find an area of unmet need. From this meeting she learned that neonatal nurses were using their own paychecks to provide essential infant items for indigent mothers. Kay was a mother to two children and had seen poverty within her own extended family, so she created New Beginnings with an initial $5,000 grant to the HCHD Foundation.
Infant items were purchased in bulk and volunteers enjoyed getting together to wrap the festive baskets to present as gifts, initially given at the holidays. Hospital social workers then developed a protocol to identify mothers who would receive the baskets year-round — those in a precarious financial situation or those needing additional assistance to care for their new babies.
“I was very impressed with the obstetrics units and nurses within the Harris Health System”,said Kay. “The nurses chose a list of items they felt would protect the newborns like the bounce chairs and Pack ‘N Plays to keep them off the floors and sofas where they could be injured.” Kay feels no matter the living situation, infants require care and protection.
The New Beginnings program annually provides 50-100 at-risk families with a “baby shower in a basket” for infants delivered at Ben Taub and LBJ Hospitals – each packed with newborn essentials like diapers, blankets, onesies, bath supplies, infant-to-toddler rockers, and even Pack ‘N Plays.
Kay Bollinger is now retired, lives in Georgia, and continues to support the New Beginnings program when able. She feels it makes a difference. The HCHD Foundation appreciates the efforts of individuals and the contributions of office drives that fill the baskets each year, continuing Kay’s and Harris Health System’s aim to gift healthier and happier lives to newborns.
The Harris County Hospital District Foundation and the Harris Health System strive to make compassionate and expert medical care a reality for all residents of Harris County. The Foundation supports services that go beyond the scope of tax-supported care for the uninsured and underinsured. Through generous community support, the Foundation is able to strengthen the Hospital District’s delivery of care and extend services throughout Harris County.
