Written by Tanya Terry, with photos courtesy of Joshua Kennedy, Rx Kids, Michigan State University
On Friday, July 25, Rx Kids Co-founder Dr. Mona Hanna held a precious infant named Jalen as she stated to a crowd at the Applewood Estate that they were all there for a Baby Parade to celebrate the historic Rx Kids program.
The program started in Flint and within about a year and a half has expanded to Kalamazoo, Pontiac and five Upper Peninsula counties.
“A little more than a year and a half ago, we did the impossible,” stated Hanna. “Through the program, every pregnant mom received $1,500 mid pregnancy and every baby gets $500 a month for their first year of life.
“70% of the other countries in the world do something like this-because they know just how hard it is to have a baby,” Hanna added. “They know all the added costs of having a baby: childcare, and diapers, and wipes and medical expenses.”
Mayor Sheldon Neeley said that through the Rx Kids program, Flint has once again inspired a nation.
He then shared more about the need for the Rx Kids program.
“In the African American community, in the Black and Brown community, infant mortality, our ratios are four times greater than their Caucasian counterparts,” Neeley said. “Maternal mortality rates-three times more in the Black and Brown community than in the Caucasian counterparts.
“We have made tremendous strides – mothers having places to live without evictions, less stress in the family.”
Rx Kids mother Celeste Lord-Timlin stated: ““I want people to know that when you invest in our kids, when you invest in our mothers, you invest in families and you invest in this community,”
Lord-Timlin shared that the help she received from Rx Kids enabled her and her husband to cover unexpected expenses while raising their now 13-month-old daughter Siobhan. According to Lord-Timlin, it also enabled her finish her master’s degree at the University of Michigan-Flint.
Aron Sousa, M.D., dean of MSU College of Human Medicine, said program Co-founders Dr. Mona Hanna- Attisha and Dr. Luke Shaeffer had put all their knowledge and experience together to create a program from faculty from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan for the benefit of the people of Flint.
Sousa added: “The reason for universities is to make the world a better place. What we are learning here helps people all across the state and soon all across the county.”
Through the Baby Parade, local residents were able to celebrate and show off their healthy babies.
The Rx Kids program has helped nearly 2,000 mothers by prescribing more than $12 million.
