Indianapolis nursing home donating baby formula to Franciscan Health Mooresville Family Birth Center
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis nursing home is donating dozens of cans of baby formula to try and help local families impacted by the national formula shortage.
Chalet Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, on the city’s southwest side, will on Thursday deliver 84 cans of Enfamil formula to the Franciscan Health Mooresville Family Birth Center.
Chalet sourced, bought, and provided part of a shipment of Enfamil to its staff members with very small children and is donating the balance to the birth center to help families in need.
The baby formula shortage is having a significant impact on Franciscan and other local hospitals, according to labor and delivery nurse Shannon McGowan.
“Here at Franciscan, we’re able to continue our mission to give back to the community through this generous gift and we’re able to help many parents in this way,” McGowan said. “It’s just so wonderful to be able to receive this.”
McGowan says the baby formula shortage has been very difficult.
“We’ve had several parents, before they leave, ask if they can have extra. Unfortunately, we can’t give any. We’ve had parents call into the O. B. unit. We’ve had pediatrician’s offices called to see if we’ve had extra,” McGowan said. “It’s unfortunate that we can’t give them anything other than what we have, so it’s gonna make a huge impact.”
Schyton Jackson, director of business development for Chalet, says the donation allows them to work with community partners.
“One of our models is a strong team beats with one heart. And those hearts starts with those infants that are born there in our community,” Jackson said. “It takes a whole village for us all to make sure that they’re to get the supplies that they need.”
McGowan outlined some of the plans for the formula.
“We’re going to store some of the formula in our newborn pantry the chaplains can access. We’re also going to be contacting our pediatrician’s offices that we work closely with and we’re going to give them some to give to parents that are in need.”