Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, Coastal Kids Home Care—a regional nonprofit that provides specialized home healthcare for children living with illness and disability—has seen demand for its services skyrocket.
The organization is in the midst of its 15th Anniversary Capital Campaign to raise funds for operating expenses and to move into a spacious, permanent new office. Coastal Kids Home Care purchased an 8,000-square-foot building in Salinas, and is in need of about $233,000 to complete renovations and for ongoing maintenance before the organization moves in, reads a press release.
Coastal Kids Home Care is the only nonprofit pediatric home health agency in California. It serves children in San Benito, Santa Clara, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
The organization has continued providing services, uninterrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as visiting nurses have donned enhanced personal protection equipment to deliver vital care. Social workers have stepped in to help families access community food and financial resources, and masked counselors have been meeting with patients in backyards to maintain connections with vulnerable children.
Over the past year, respite nurses at Coastal Kids Home Care have provided 50,000 hours of in-home care for children with complex medical conditions—a fourfold increase over the previous two years. Since it was founded in 2005, the nonprofit has provided more than 70,000 in-home visits to more than 9,000 medically fragile children.
But the nonprofit is in need of help, and needs to raise $233,000 to reach its $2.2 million fundraising goal, according to the press release.
And the Covid-19 pandemic has only raised the need for Coastal Kids Home Care’s services. The organization’s demand for pediatric palliative care admissions has tripled because hospitals are a “scary place for families with medically fragile children” during the pandemic, the press release says.
Furthermore, Coastal Kids has seen the number of children and teens accessing its mental health counseling services increase by 40 percent during the pandemic.
Coastal Kids’ new home in Salinas—known as the Rodgers Center for Children’s Health—was purchased with substantial donations from the The Central California Alliance for Health ($1.2 million); T.J. and Valeta Rodgers ($300,000) and the Sally Hughes Church Foundation ($200,000) among others.
“We are so grateful to our lead donors for their generous support,” Coastal Kids Home Care Development Director Kelli Mullen Brown said. “The Rodgers Center for Children’s Health will become a cornerstone of care for children living with illness and disability for many years to come.”
The nonprofit still needs funding to add a new roof and air conditioning system, and for ongoing maintenance.
Coastal Kids Home Care was co-founded by Margy Mayfield in June 2005. After more than two decades as a pediatric nurse, Mayfield knew what children living with serious illness craved most—to simply be home.
“Children thrive when they can sleep in their own beds, eat their favorite foods and spend time with their friends,” reads the press release. “Mayfield’s idea was simple but revolutionary. With an exclusive focus on pediatrics, Coastal Kids is able to bring high-quality, compassionate home care to children with serious or life-limiting illness – all at a low cost to families and community healthcare dollars.”
For more information or to make a donation, visit Coastal Kids Home Care’s website at https://coastalkidshomecare.org/.
