Connecting Families

Some Assembly Required is a non for profit organization established to assist families with children in cardiac intensive care units (CCU) by alleviating the financial burden of parking fees.

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 hospitals can range from $15-$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.