High Risk Hope ceased operations in Spring 2023. We are honored to have served 14,500 families with high-risk pregnancies and premature babies in neonatal intensive care since 2011. Read below on how HRH's Legacy of Hope continues and consider supporting the organizations in our community that provide care to women and families before and after the premature birth of a baby.
RMHC Tampa Bay is eager and well-positioned to continue the work of HRH by adopting our NICU
Napsack, Bed Rest Basket, and Bereavement Box programs under the umbrella program “Hope Bundles”.
Beginning May 1, 2023, RMHC Tampa Bay will deliver bags to our existing five hospital partners. HRH
is honored to provide initial funding and inventory to RMHC Tampa Bay, and we are so grateful to
them for continuing to bring vital resources and hope to families.
HRH will fund nursing scholarships for eight undergraduate students at the University of South
Florida who will specialize in NICU nursing. Scholarship support will directly impact the nursing
shortage in the Tampa community by reducing the financial barrier for students and will encourage
student nurses to choose a career in neonatal intensive care. Scholarship recipients will be
designated as High Risk Hope Scholars and will complete the Bulls for Babies NICU Nursing Seminar.
HRH will provide funding for three initiatives at Tampa General Hospital. The Fetal Care Family Aid
Fund supports families receiving care from the Fetal Care Team by aiding them in paying for hotel
stays, supplies, and medications. The Neonatal Exposure Program helps expectant mothers struggling
with addiction. The program supports moms and their babies from birth to five years. HRH's funds
will provide one year of care packages that include useful items for their postpartum care and their
newborn baby. HRH will also help purchase a point-of-care ultrasound machine for the Jennifer Leigh
Muma NICU at TGH.
HRH will fund the purchase of point-of-care ultrasound machines for the NICUs at St. Joseph's
Women's Hospital and Mease Countryside Hospital. The ultrasound machines are used for aiding in IV
placement. Hospitals also plan to expand use of the devices for rapid screening of the heart and
brain that can be done by the neonatologists at the bedside urgently without having to wait for
somebody from radiology to come to the NICU.
Our Mission
High Risk Hope® is a for purpose organization that provides support, encouragement, information, and resources to women and families who are experiencing a high-risk pregnancy resulting in hospital bed rest, potential premature birth, and neonatal intensive care after delivery.
Thank you to our Board of Directors
Bennett Barrow, CFP
Heather Barrow
Paul Dolcimascolo, CFP
Tracie Domino
Kate Ferrill
Betsy Graham
Courtney Robinson
Lauren Companioni Strahan, DMD
Alfonso Vargas, MD
Dear High Risk Hope Family,
As High Risk Hope approaches dissolution, we look back in celebration of all HRH has accomplished, and we look toward the legacy HRH leaves to support families well into the future.
Over twelve years, the community enthusiastically supported HRH which allowed us to provide vital resources and hope to over 14,500 families in the hospital before and after the birth of their premature baby. We are grateful for the thousands of volunteers, donors, and families who have walked alongside us to bring our programs to nine hospitals in Florida and California.
We are honored to announce that HRH's legacy of hope will live on as we distribute more than $500,000 of monetary and non-monetary assets to local nonprofits supporting high risk obstetric patients and families with babies in neonatal intensive care. After careful consideration, our Board of Directors identified four organizations that will best carry on HRH's legacy.
- HRH will provide initial funding and inventory for Ronald McDonald House Charities Tampa Bay to continue the work of HRH by adopting our NICU Napsack, Bed Rest Basket, and Bereavement Box programs
- HRH will fund nursing scholarships for eight undergraduate students at the University of South Florida who will specialize in NICU nursing.
- HRH will fund the purchase of point-of-care ultrasound machines for the NICUs at St. Joseph's Women's Hospital and Mease Countryside Hospital.
- HRH will provide funding for Tampa General Hospital's Fetal Care Family Aid Fund, Neonatal Exposure Program Care Packs, and a point-of-care ultrasound machine for the Jennifer Leigh Muma NICU.
We could not have impacted so many lives without our dedicated donors, volunteers, and HRH families. Thank you for your loyal support, and we hope you continue to follow HRH's legacy as it lives on in the network of organizations supporting moms and babies in our community.
Heather Barrow
Founder and Board Chair
Bailey Nicholas
Executive Director
