Its Official! Our Car Seat Program is Live!
Background on the work we’ve done
Launching our car seat program has been a long time coming, and for that we apologize. Two things slowed us down with launching - first was insurance and second was the consistency and quantity of donations.
We spent months looking into insurance to make sure that all donations and individuals participating in the program would be protected. Originally, we had the vision that we would act as a holding location for the extra Jefferson car seats and Hope car beds that are out in the community, creating one easy place for those looking for either to come and quickly be able to get one. We would ship the seat/bed out for use, then pay the shipping again to get it back to us, continuing until the expiration date of the seat (and of course removing damaged ones from the program as needed). Some of you may have stayed at a children’s hospital that operated a car seat program in this same manner. We also were planning to buy new seats/beds as needed with the donations that we’ve received, ensuring the availability was high enough.
However, as we looked into the logistics and insurance for a program like that, we learned that it’s actually not something that a specific insurance policy for an organization of our size would cover. We sent our insurance agent on a wild goose chase looking for anyone who would cover the program! When we asked the large hospitals about their programs and how they covered theirs, we were told that only their very large blanket insurance policies were able to cover something like a car seat program, and so that’s why they can offer it.
We had to pivot and come up with a new plan.
The final plan
We will continue with the portion of the plan where we use donations to purchase new Jefferson seats and Hope beds for the community and will store those at our organization until we donate them out. This is something that we do have insurance in place to cover in case there is a loss. The modification to our original plan comes in around the ones that are already out in the community.
As you’ve probably seen in the MOO Facebook community (Mothers Of Omphaloceles), people often ask around for a car seat/bed in order to be able to be discharged from the hospital, or others post that they have one available for others to use if they have a need. We want to make that “ask and share” process easier and more organized. If you look at our Car Seat Program page now, you’ll see that we have a place to collect and share what seats are available out in the community. Those who need one can also contact us there and we’ll get them in touch with the current owner of the seat.
We’re also happy to share that because of the donations that we receive we are able to help those with a financial need by covering the cost to have the seat/bed shipped. This wouldn’t be possible without continued donations, so thank you for supporting the omphalocele community through your donations!
Very soon, you’ll also see on our program page that there are brand new seats available that we’ve purchased directly from Merritt, who manufactures both the Hope and Jefferson. Those should be up on the site by the end of January 2023. Again, this is only possible through continued donations.
We’re hopeful of the impact that this program will make for omphalocele families!
From talking with some of you who have shipped seats in the past, we know that it will cost up to $200 to ship one of these large car seats, and it is over $850 for us to purchase a brand new one for donation to a family in need. Please consider donating today to help support this program and ensure that it can benefit as many omphalocele warriors as possible!