MANSFIELD, Ohio- A local girl scout group is doing its’ part to make sure babies born at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital can travel back home safely. Girl Scout Troop #3591 donated three, brand-new infant car seats to Mansfield Hospital’s Women’s Health Unit. They will go to families in need who can’t afford car seats that meet safety regulations.
The woman behind the donation, Erika M., RN, leader of the girl scout troop, happens to also be a nurse in the Women’s Health Unit at Mansfield Hospital. She says she noticed a need in the community first-hand. “There's a community need for some car seats to be on hand, and there just wasn't any available,” said Erika. “It had seemed to be on the weekends, especially, when we had some roadblocks with community resources being closed or just not available to help those families in the community.” After experiencing these situations multiple times, Erika decided to get the troop involved to help. “Our troop has a mission to serve and uplift the community,” said Erika. “And so I thought about, what if we used our money that we earned from selling girl scout cookies to buy car seats and donate to the unit.”
Weeks later, Troop #3591 visited Mansfield Hospital and delivered the car seats in-person. “We were thrilled to receive this donation from our local girl scout group,” said Kelly Payne, MSN, RNC-NIC, nurse manager at Mansfield Hospital. “Making sure our patients have what they need to keep their children safe is incredibly important to our staff, so these donations are invaluable.”
If you’d like to donate to Mansfield Hospital’s Women’s Health Unit, you can call Payne’s office at 419-526-8730. Associates are always accepting car seats for infants, as well as knitted items and blankets.