Six Cans of Formula, Two Infants, and One Saved Christmas
Imagine being a single parent of twin infants and realizing, on Christmas Eve, that you are out of formula. You can’t afford more, the stores are closing, and two hungry babies are depending on you.
That is the phone call that Brandon Lewis got from a desperate mom on December 24. It was after 4 p.m. and Brandon, a patient service rep at Nemours Children’s Health, Newark in Delaware, was the only one left in the office.
He sent a message to triage nurse Lynn Wersten: You need to talk to this mom.
Wersten, who has been with Nemours for 30 years, was not going to let our patients go hungry, even if it meant finding a grocery store open on Christmas Eve and paying out of her own pocket. Knowing that formula companies sometimes send samples to their office, she sent Brandon to search the closets. He came up with six small cans — enough to feed the twins for a few days.
When Lynn phoned the mom, tears of desperation turned to tears of gratitude. Thirty minutes later, they met at the office. “You don’t know how much I need this,” wept the mom. “We all need help sometimes,” Lynn told her gently, “You can call me at any time.” After confirming the family has a safe place to stay, Lynn also told her that Nemours care coordinator Becky Donohue, RN, was going to follow up in a few days and help connect her to potential resources in the community: organizations like food pantries, housing assistance, legal aid, and more. Lynn lightened the mood by mentioning that she would love to see the babies back soon, and, in fact, their chart showed they were overdue for their nine-month well visit. The day after Christmas, mom called and made that appointment.
As dramatic as the story is, Lynn says primary care offices are faced with these issues regularly. “This is what we do. Any one of us, from the front office staff to the medical team, would do the same,” she says.
Nemours Children’s Health, Newark primary care team members (L to R) Brittany Vinc; Rituparna Deb, MD; Madison Whalen; Tianna Kelly-Lawrence, RN; Karen Simmons (in far back); Rebecca Donohue, RN; Brandon Lewis; Ami Rao, DO; Brianna Bliss, PsyD; and Francis Ostrea, MD.
Nemours commitment to Whole Child Health means that we provide medical care while also thinking like our Newark Primary Care team: What more does that child need to be healthy? Are they safe? Fed? Housed? Learning?
It is very important that infants see their primary care provider regularly to ensure they are growing appropriately, meeting milestones, and promptly getting any care they require. At the same time, if a child’s basic needs are not being met, they are far less likely to grow up healthy, no matter how much medical care they receive.
Care coordinator Becky Donohue made sure that our mom of twins knows about the many organizations in her community who can help with food insecurity and other social needs. Becky often helps remove barriers to care by helping families with transportation needs or guiding them on how to access the medical benefits for which they qualify through Medicaid or private insurance.
By addressing the social drivers of health, our care coordinators and primary care teams do more than deliver medicine — they create the conditions that allow children to thrive.
Most health systems in America focus on medical care alone. At Nemours, we are in the business of creating health. And sometimes that starts with a phone call, some formula samples, and a team who committed to their patients and families.
About Dr. Moss
R. Lawrence Moss, MD, FACS, FAAP is president and CEO of Nemours Children’s Health. Dr. Moss will write monthly in this space about how children’s hospitals can address the social determinants of health and create the healthiest generations of children.