Chicago Pediatric Residents Mobilize to Address Formula Needs and Diaper Shortage
Han Yu Stephanie Liou, MD
May 22,2020
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity was a major issue that impacted the Comer Children’s Hospital patient community.
In March, our team of pediatric residents began hearing from families about lost jobs, formula and diaper shortages and difficulty accessing public benefits. We quickly identified a gap in existing community resources: formula and diapers for the youngest members of our community.
Second-year pediatric residents at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Comer Children's Hospital (from left to right) Dr. Nabgha Farhat, Dr. Julia Lee, Dr. Han Yu Stephanie Liou and Dr. Vidya Govind, next to the hospital mascot, Remoc.
In order to respect social distancing and shelter-in-place policies, we approached Chicago Public Schools (CPS) staff about a potential partnership. Over the last two months, along with a fantastic team at CPS and community partner Share Our Spare (www.shareourspare.org), we have built a program to allow families to receive free infant formula and diapers at their local school, at the same time as school meal pick-ups.
In this way, families do not have to expose themselves or their children to additional COVID-19 risk by having to travel to a separate site, such as a church pantry or clinic, to get what they need.
With the help of private donors and medical student volunteers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, we have provided formula to more than 100 families and distributed nearly 40,000 diapers to more than 1,000 families at three of the highest-need schools on Chicago’s South and West Sides.
The program has been very well-received by school staff and families. In fact, we were just awarded a $10,000 grant by the Comer Development Board and are very excited to be able to expand and sustain these efforts.
If you would like to contribute to the project, you can donate directly through this link.
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*The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
About the Author
Han Yu Stephanie Liou, MD, FAAP
Han Yu Stephanie Liou, MD, is a pediatric resident at the University of Chicago Medicine/Comer Children's Hospital and part of the Leadership for Urban Primary Care Education and Transformation program. She serves as a delegate to the AAP Section on Pediatric Trainees and as resident liaison to the AAP Council on Clinical Information Technology. She is also an active member of the Illinois Chapter of the AAP and is pursuing a career in urban, underserved primary care.