Healthy Babies, Happy Moms and GrowthLab

This segment is highlighting Healthy Babies, Happy Moms. They are passionate about having a positive impact on the health of babies and the well being of their mothers. They are committed to treating women with kindness and respect while helping them achieve success in their breastfeeding goals. They have expert nurses that guide mothers with the information and support they need to be confident in their ability to care for their children. They do this while minimizing stress and fostering their success in an atmosphere of comfort.

What is the Company’s growth story and what drove you to start the business?

Healthy Babies, Happy Moms started 20 years ago. I moved to Rhode Island in 2000 from Chicago. When I lived in Chicago I worked for a company very similar to mine. After I moved to Rhode Island, I found out that there was nobody doing what I was doing, so I started the business. At the time I had three young sons that I was staying home with, but knew I would soon need to return to the workforce. I started the business in my house and very slowly grew it, mostly by word of mouth and developing relationships with pediatricians who would refer clients to me. 10 years later, I was able to move the business out of my house and into an office space. Shortly after this, I secured a nursing agency license. I did all of that in anticipation of the Affordable Care Act being put into place. I knew that part of the mandate would be that my services would need to be covered. I was trying to get everything in line for when this was enacted so that I would have infrastructure in place to be able to handle the work. 

Healthy babies, happy moms is a home health nursing agency that specializes in breastfeeding support for moms. There’s three components to our business. The first one is durable medical equipment. We provide breast pumps and infant phototherapy. Our breast pumps are for moms who are nursing and need a pump to work. Our infant phototherapy is for babies that are jaundiced and need to be readmitted to the hospital for care. Instead we do it in the home… We draw blood and have a nurse who goes to visit every day while the baby’s in the bed. It’s a great service because it keeps babies out of the hospital. The third component of the care that we provide is lactation counselors. We do those in our patients homes, in our office, and virtually. This is another service that is covered under the Affordable Care Act. It is making a huge difference in the success that women are having with breastfeeding and their ability to do it for as long as they want to… we get everything off to a good start.

If there was one thing the company could execute on in the next 12-18 months, what would it be?

One thing I am planning to do is add more products that are durable medical equipment… products that mothers who are pregnant would need. I’m also trying to increase our visibility as far as phototherapy goes. I feel like the vast majority of the pediatricians in the state that are dealing with families and have private insurance know about us. But the physicians in the Providence community health centers that are providing care to neighborhood families don’t know about us. Neighborhood, to their credit, has been covering the service for several years. I just think the doctors don’t know about it and I haven’t had the time or the ability to make a push to get into the health centers and let them all know. That is one area that I’m really hoping to grow the business.

My buddy Dan at GrowthLab has been helping me for years. I met him 6 years ago and he has been a great sounding board. When he bought the bookkeeping business I started using GrowthLab for bookkeeping in addition to seeking his advice when I needed it. Especially in the last six months, I’ve joined pretty much every jump call that GrowthLab has on Mondays. I’ve been able to navigate the PPP and EIDL only because Dan and Steve reached out to me to make sure that I knew what needed to be done. They have really helped me put myself in a good position to weather the storm and actually do well. I’m lucky because I don’t think a lot of other businesses have that resource and may not have the type of business that is going to survive something like this. I feel very lucky to have Dan, Steve, and Korey guide me through all of it.

— Kathleen Moren, Founder of Healthy Babies, Happy Moms