CLEVELAND, Ohio—This fall, Claire Mancuso will be a sophomore in high school.

She says a family friend, who is a nurse midwife, came over one day after she got home from school.  

“And she was talking to us about it’s hard to get some babies home from the hospital because in order to leave the hospital, you have to have a car seat and those can be very expensive —ranging from $90 to $200,” said Mancuso. 

This got Mancuso thinking.

  • Teen started a car seat loan program
  • Allows people who can’t afford a car seat to borrow one to take their newborns home from the hospital
  • Will launch this fall at Fairview Hospital

“She was saying how she wishes there was a program—like a car seat loan program,” said Mancuso.

With the help of her mom and a grant of 5 car seats— Mancuso decided to do it herself. 

“It will be a referral-based program, we will be handing out fliers to a neighborhood family practice,” said Mancuso. 

The program will allow for people who can’t afford a car seat to borrow one to safely take their newly born child home from the hospital.

Volunteers will come pick it up a few days later. 

Though Mancuso is still in her teens, this is great experience for her aspiring career. 

“I really wanna be a nurse midwife, so that’s what I wanna go to school for,” said Mancuso. “I really wanna be in the medical field, but one of the only areas where you can be in the medical field where there are joyful things happening is when you’re working with babies.” 

She says the program will launch this fall at Fairview Hospital.