Our Community Investment in Children
Last week聽鈥 before the hurricane that swept across Florida聽鈥 I attended the second annual Child Health Equity Symposium in Orlando, hosted by Nemours Ginsburg Institute for Health Equity. More than 90 community organizations came together聽鈥 groups that advocate for access to mental health services, good nutrition, mentorship for at-risk youth, safe housing and more. We all have a stake in keeping kids healthy.
This incredible group was brought together through the generosity and vision of Alan Ginsburg, a prominent Florida real estate developer and philanthropist. Alan鈥檚 $25 million gift allows the Ginsburg Institute to connect, facilitate and support the important health equity work that is going on in Central Florida.聽
I was struck by something Alan said when he came to the podium to deliver a welcome:
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 make a gift. I made an investment. And it has paid off better than any investment I made before.鈥
I truly wish more people thought like Alan. When it comes to doing the right thing for children鈥檚 health, investments are too often thought of as costs. Costs are subtractive, emphasizing what we are losing or giving up. Nobody likes costs.
Investment, on the other hand, is accretive, and it comes with a payoff far larger than the investment.聽
Money spent on child health is an investment with massive, multigenerational returns.
Every parent wants to invest time, money and energy into their children so that they can be happy, healthy and successful. But many loving parents in this country simply don鈥檛 have the resources to invest as fully as they want. The consequences of that can be enormous, not just for those families, but for our whole society.聽
Children who don鈥檛 succeed in school, whose stress levels weigh them down, or who can鈥檛 count on three meals a day or a reliable home address may appear healthy. But research tells us that they will be less healthy in adulthood. They will die younger. They are more likely to be burdened by preventable chronic disease.
Their lost potential as valued individuals to their loved ones and as adult workers and productive members of society is magnitudes larger than what it costs the Ginsburg Institute鈥檚 community partners to help them on the right path. As Alan Ginsburg put it, 鈥淲e can鈥檛 build enough hospital rooms. We need to take care of children so that they don鈥檛 need them.鈥
The Ginsburg Institute鈥檚 recent symposium included organizations like the Mental Health Association of Central Florida (MHACF), which is dedicated to mental wellness and equitable access to mental health care in the community. At the Symposium, MHACF was the inaugural recipient of the Community Champion Award for its work advancing child and adolescent well-being.
We saw incredible dance performances from young people from Millenium Middle School and the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida. This year, the Ginsburg Institute worked with another nonprofit, 4Roots, whose leadership was also in attendance, to create a community garden at the Bradley-Otis Boys and Girls Club in the West Lakes neighborhood of Orlando. This garden will grow food for the community while also educating children and families about nutrition and healthy cooking.聽
We heard from two incredible high schoolers who had been mentored through the Boys and Girls Club and ELEVATE Orlando, a mentoring program for youth. One mentioned how no one in his family had ever graduated high school and how, without mentoring, he would likely have assumed that was his path too. Hearing from these teenagers directly and witnessing their passion and drive to be successful was a testament to the importance of investing in children.聽
The Orlando community is full of great organizations investing in our kids. Nemours is proud to bring them together, support their work and help them find synergy. While we will always continue to provide the best health care to those who need it, we are equally committed to children who will never enter our hospital or clinic doors. That鈥檚 what it means to deliver whole child health. The Ginsburg Institute for Health Equity can serve as a model to other communities.
About Dr. Moss
R. Lawrence Moss, MD, FACS, FAAP is president and CEO of Nemours Children鈥檚 Health. Dr. Moss will write monthly in this space about how children鈥檚 hospitals can address the social determinants of health and create the healthiest generations of children.