Our Mission
Some Assembly Required is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization established to assist families with children in cardiac intensive care units (CCU) by alleviating the financial burden of parking fees.
As an organization founded by heart families for heart families, we know firsthand the overwhelming emotions that come when your child is born with a congenital heart disease and how difficult this journey is. If we can help carry the load with you by covering your parking expenses so you can focus on your heart hero, then we have lived up to our mission.
“There’s something wrong with your baby’s heart.”
“A portion of your baby’s heart didn’t form correctly.”
“Your baby is a bit blue, we’re going to take him to the NICU and pink him up.”
“We need to send you to a fetal cardiologist for more testing.”
These are the words many parents hear before receiving the devastating news that their child has a major congenital heart defect. Many of these children need multiple open heart surgeries and additional heart procedures requiring lengthy hospital stays.
I knew something had to change…
"By the time my son turned two, he had spent over sixteen months inpatient and had five heart surgeries - one being a transplant. With parking averaging $11-$15 a day, I knew something had to change. Parents have enough to worry about without having to think about whether or not they can afford the parking associated with visiting their children in the hospital. Their only worry should be advocating for their children’s health and loving on them while they recuperate.”
— Kristen Moran, Board Member
WHY IT MATTERS
An average length of stay in a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit is 35 days. Many families are often in longer awaiting a heart transplant or recovering from multiple open heart surgeries. In addition, once discharged, patients must return to the hospital weekly or monthly for follow up care, all of which accumulates parking fees.
Parking at many hospitals can range from $11-$50 a day!
Due to the fact that most hospitals do not own the parking garage, hospitals are unable to make parking free for families while loved ones are inpatient. Many of the top cardiac centers in the country are often located in highly desirable locations and as a result, parking fees exist. Unfortunately for many families, even $15 a day to park to see their child is not financially feasible and so families often forgo seeing their hospitalized child daily due to the parking fees they'd incur. Having to factor in the finances of parking while their child recovers from open heart surgery is something with which no parent should be burdened.
Your support can make a difference. Donations to Some Assembly Required directly keep parents connected at their child’s bedside. Research has proved repeatedly that human contact is a vital component to the healing process. While the nurses on staff are always amazing, they often have more than one child to care for and cannot provide all the contact attention a healing baby needs. Allowing a parent to be bedside to provide love and comfort for their child while healing is critical for healing both the mind and body of parent and child.