ANNUAL REPORT 2018

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Dear Friend,

This past year has been an exciting one for the Jennifer Bush-Lawson Foundation and the economically
vulnerable moms and babies we serve.

We supported a telemedicine pilot at Virginia Hospital Center’s Outpatient Clinic for low-income
moms with high-risk pregnancies. Just a little over a year into the telemedicine pilot, pregnant moms
enrolled experienced a 38% reduction in NICU admissions and a 13% reduction in primary c-sections.

We held our 4th annual 5K & Family Fun Day, registering more runners than ever before. We launched the
inaugural $25K Prize for Prenatal Innovation, to uncover and lift up forward-thinking, creative or simply
smart ideas that can improve access to prenatal care for disadvantaged women in the greater DC region.

We funded transportation vouchers for prenatal appointments and pack-and-plays for families in
need. And we purchased hospital-grade, multi-user breast pumps, which we then donated in early
2019 to Arlington County’s WIC office to be loaned at no cost to low-income moms who otherwise
can’t obtain a pump.

All of these initiatives can only be done with the support of friends and businesses in our community.
Our deepest thanks for your dedication to moms and babies in need.

We have more to come in 2019, including a new series of events on maternal health and the awarding
of the first winner of the Prize for Prenatal Innovation. Plus, the 5th anniversary of the Jennifer Bush-
Lawson 5K & Family Fun Day on November 23 promises to be our best yet!
Join us at an event, sign up for our newsletter at JB-LF.org to stay informed, and email our executive
director, Jennifer Myers, at jmyers@jb-lf.org if you want to learn even more. We look forward to
hearing from you.

Thank you again for your support.

Sincerely,

Neal Lawson
Founder & Chair
 FURTHERING OUR MISSION
JB-LF GRANTS NEARLY $75K IN 2018
The Jennifer Bush-Lawson Foundation furthered its mission of increasing economically
vulnerable women’s access to prenatal and infant care in 2018 with two major awards.

$70,354
In July, we were pleased to present a check for $70,354 to our partners at the Virginia
Hospital Center Outpatient Clinic for their ongoing work with low-income and
uninsured pregnant women in the community.

The majority of the grant, $64,354, funds nursing and care coordination staffing for
the second year of a telemedicine pilot program focused on high-risk pregnancies
that we helped VHC launch in 2017 and that runs through June 2019. (See story, page
7, for more on the telemedicine pilot.) Another $5,000 went to provide transportation
cards for low-income expectant mothers who need help to be able to make their
prenatal appointments. And $1,000 was spent on pack-and-plays for families in need
so that their newborns have a safe place to sleep.

$4,354
The Foundation also spent more than $4,300 to purchase two hospital-grade breast
pumps to donate to Arlington County’s public health division.

The donation, two Medela Symphony PLUS pumps, fulfill a need identified by the
county to have a small supply of multi-user breast pumps available to loan to low-
income mothers with premature infants, at no cost. According to the WIC coordinator
in the county’s DHS office, mothers are sometimes unable to obtain WIC-provided
pumps and can’t afford to rent a pump, creating a situation that can compromise both
the initiation and duration of breastfeeding for their premature babies.

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RUNNING FOR GOOD
4TH ANNUAL 5K FUNDRAISER NETS $55K FOR MOMS
AND BABIES, BRINGING MULTIYEAR TOTAL TO $250K
On Saturday, November 17, 2018, we ran, cheered on other runners, bounced and
played, or simply enjoyed the company of family and friends for a good cause during
the 4th Annual Jennifer Bush-Lawson 5K & Family Fun Day.

Held at the Knights of Columbus’ expansive property in Arlington, the Jennifer Bush-
Lawson Foundation’s signature event both honors Jenn’s passion for running and carries
forward her legacy of helping mothers and their babies receive the same high-quality
care she had during three complicated pregnancies.

Drawing nearly 1,500 people in 2018, the race and celebratory event have become a
beloved local tradition. Some 600 runners test themselves in the certified 5K, while
hundreds more come for family-friendly activities like a kids’ fun run, moon bounces, a
rock wall, and laser tag.

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 Altogether, the 2018 5K and Family Fun Day raised more than $55,000 for the
Foundation’s beneficiary, Virginia Hospital Center, and the economically vulnerable
mothers and infants served at its outpatient clinic. In our fourth year putting on this event,
we were able to reduce costs, attract more runners, and gain new sponsors — some of
whom have already indicated interest in increasing their support and participation next
year. We even donated extra bananas from the event to the Arlington Food Assistance
Center (AFAC).

Thanks to our dozens of sponsors, as well as everyone who participates and

volunteers, we’ve raised a net total of $249,457 for high-quality prenatal care in the
past four years, and are solidly positioned to grow this event in the future.

5K photos courtesy of MClements Photography and Barry Glassman.

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IDEAS WANTED
INAUGURAL PRIZE FOR PRENATAL INNOVATION
TO REWARD CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
Recognizing that a gap exists in prenatal care for disadvantaged women, and seeking
to harness new, creative, and impactful ideas to tackle that issue, the Jennifer Bush
Lawson Foundation has launched the inaugural $25,000 Prize for Prenatal Innovation.

29-30% OF WOMEN IN MONTGOMERY AND PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTIES DON’T GET

FIRST-TRIMESTER CARE, AND IN ARLINGTON COUNTY, VA, ONE IN FIVE BIRTHS LACKED
CARE IN THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF PREGNANCY.
A recent report from the District of Columbia Department of Health found that
of more than one-third of births in the city, mothers received no prenatal care in
the first trimester. Statistics for neighboring areas are not much better: 29-30% of
women in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties don’t get first-trimester care,
and in Arlington County, VA, one in five births lacked care in the first three months
of pregnancy, according to KIDS COUNT. Yet the first trimester can be a critical
time to catch chronic health conditions in the mother that could affect the health of
both mother and baby. In the second and third trimesters, too many economically
vulnerable moms also miss prenatal appointments because of issues like lack of
flexibility with work, child care concerns, or problems with transportation.

The Prize for Prenatal Innovation seeks to change this paradigm. The Foundation
accepted applications through February 28, 2019 from organizations with innovative
or creative proposals targeting prenatal care for low-income and disadvantaged
women in the DC area. We put out a specific call for projects that are measurable and
have the potential to scale.

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 A three-judge panel of experts will review the applications this spring. They include
Dr. Sarahn Wheeler, a practicing maternal-fetal specialist at Duke University Medical
Center and research faculty member at Duke Medical School; Toni Verstandig, chair
of the Children’s Hospital Foundation Board and executive vice president at The S.
Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace; and Dr. Terri Wright, vice president for
program and community at the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation.

Finalists are expected to be announced in May and a winner in June 2019. For more
information on the Prize for Prenatal Innovation, or to underwrite or donate to the
prize, visit JB-LF.org/Prize.

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CONNECTING WITH CARE
TELEMEDICINE PILOT FUNDED BY JB-LF
SEES HUGE SUCCESSES IN ITS SECOND YEAR
When she was pregnant with her second child, Cora (name changed for privacy)
was diagnosed as being at high risk for blood clots, a condition that would require
medication and regular check-ins with her doctor to prevent a potentially life-
threatening situation. While scary for any mother-to-be, this can be a largely
manageable condition — unless your personal and financial circumstances are stacked
against you.

Cora doesn’t have health insurance, and her employer threatened to fire her if she
missed work. On top of that, she had a deep-seated fear of the treatment being
recommended. Faced with a difficult choice between her health and providing for her
family, Cora’s skepticism and
the financial and time hurdles
seemed insurmountable, and
she would likely not have
started treatment under normal
circumstances.

But thanks to an innovative

telemedicine program funded
by the Jennifer Bush-Lawson
Foundation, and the care and
persistence of the medical staff
at Virginia Hospital Center’s Outpatient Clinic, Cora was able to get the treatment she
needed, and she and her baby are healthy and well today as a result.

Launched in mid-2017, the telemedicine pilot has been a win-win-win for the
Foundation, the Outpatient Clinic and the women and families that it serves. It all

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 started when the Foundation partnered with the Virginia Hospital Center to figure out
how best to use proceeds from our annual 5K benefit race. At that time, the hospital
had secured a grant to put the infrastructure in place for a telemedicine program, but
did not have funding for the staffing and care coordination it would take to implement
it. The Jennifer Bush-Lawson Foundation is proud to have helped this program get off
the ground with an initial $83,000 grant, and is now in the second year of funding it.

More than 50 patients have benefited so far from the telemedicine program. Like
Cora, they are uninsured women who have been identified as having high-risk, but
stable, pregnancies — such as diabetes. Once identified as a good fit for the program,
a care coordinator adds the
telemedicine software to a
“It’s an effective tool in providing that persistent patient’s smartphone, gives
accountability that patients require to be successful. her a thorough tutorial,

And it’s very empowering — it connects them in a and determines how many
appointments can be virtual.
way that allows them to take control of their health.” From then on, patients can
check in remotely with their
doctors to report blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and other measurements that
are easily taken independently at home. (JB-LF also funded blood pressure cuffs to
loan to telemedicine patients, as well as transportation vouchers for their required in-
office visits.)

“It’s an effective tool in providing that persistent accountability that patients require
to be successful,” says Lesley Daigle, telemedicine coordinator for the Outpatient
Clinic. “And it’s very empowering — it connects them in a way that allows them to take
control of their health.”

The telemedicine program has been successful on a number of fronts. Just over a
year into it, the clinic saw a 13 percent reduction in primary C-section rates and a 38
percent reduction in NICU admissions. ER and hospital admissions have also declined
among telemedicine patients.

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With such successful outcomes, the hospital has absorbed the nursing and care
coordination into its permanent staff and budget, and plans to expand telemedicine
to Arlington Pediatric Center. From a business standpoint, telemedicine offers
efficiencies over in-person appointments, and the residents who staff the clinic are
enhancing their qualifications with this cutting-edge technological experience.

“This really is the future of medicine,” says

Michelle Altman, patient care director of the
“We’re inspired by the results of this
Outpatient Clinic. telemedicine project and its ability to
But the main goal of the program has always
deliver a level of equity in health care
been to increase access to care, a mission for those who most need it.”
shared by the Foundation, and that has been
achieved. In Cora’s case, the human factor made all the difference — it took some
time for the nursing staff to convince her to get on board with the medication and
the program. Once they succeeded, Cora was able to connect with her doctors
weekly from a closet at work.

“If we’re able to connect with patients, we’re preventing an ER visit,” says Altman.
“We’re addressing the health issues of patients before they become chronic and
keeping their babies inside healthy and happy. Empowering patients to take the
initiative and be involved in their care is not something this population always feels
or has.”

Added JB-LF founder and chair Neal Lawson: “We’re inspired by the results of this
telemedicine project and its ability to deliver a level of equity in health care for
those who most need it.”

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 AND WE DANCED
JB-LF HAS BECOME MAJOR BENEFICIARY OF
DC’S DANCING STARS GALA
For the third year in a row, the Jennifer Bush-Lawson Foundation benefited from a
night of dancing and merriment at DC’s Dancing Stars Gala, a charity event generously
run by the Cornelius J. and Ellen P. Coakley Family Foundation.

The event, modeled after the hit TV show Dancing with the Stars!, brings together
local celebrities and professional dancers for an evening of friendly competition to
raise funds for DC-area charities. The pairs of dancers learn a polished choreographed
routine over several months, then perform it in front of a panel of celebrity judges
and hundreds of gala attendees, who select the winner of the mirror ball trophy and
$10,000 grand prize for the charity of their choice.

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JB-LF has been one of a handful
of named beneficiaries since the
2016 Dancing Stars Gala. After the
fall 2017 event, the Foundation
was presented with a check for
$100,000 — the largest sum the
gala has ever awarded.

“We were floored when we

learned that JB-LF would be the
recipient of this record-breaking
$100,000 donation,” said
Executive Director Jennifer Myers,
who danced for the organization “We were floored when we learned that JB-LF
at the 2017 event. “Through this would be the recipient of this record-breaking
generosity, we’ll be able to help
even more low-income expectant
$100,000 donation. Through this generosity, we’ll
mothers and their babies get a be able to help even more low-income expectant
fair start to life.”
mothers and their babies get a fair start to life.
At the fifth annual DC’s Dancing
Stars Gala in November 2018, Pacers Running owner Chris Farley danced to raise funds
for the Foundation — and won the Corporate Challenge! Farley raised over $73,000
in cash, sponsorships and prize money, bringing the total awarded to JB-LF from this
event to $228,000.

The Jennifer Bush-Lawson Foundation is proud and immensely grateful to be a part of

this fabulously fun event — which also includes a VIP cocktail reception, gourmet dinner,
silent auction, and entertainment beyond the marquee dance competition — and we’re
looking forward to participating in the 2019 Dancing Stars Gala on November 9! To join
us this November, visit dcsdancingstarsgala.com.

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 SAVE THE DATE
PENCIL INTO YOUR 2019 CALENDAR THESE DATES,
EVENTS, AND DEADLINES TO SUPPORT THE JENNIFER
BUSH-LAWSON FOUNDATION
May, 2019
Finalists announced for 2019 Prize for Prenatal Innovation

June, 2019
2019 Prize for Prenatal Innovation winner announced

November 9, 2019
6th annual DC’s Dancing Stars Gala

November 23, 2019

5th annual Jennifer Bush-Lawson 5K & Family Fun Day

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO BE ALERTED FIRST WHEN

NEW EVENTS ARE ADDED: JB-LF.ORG/SIGN-UP

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The important work of the Jennifer Bush-Lawson Foundation is performed thanks to the
generous support of individuals and businesses in our community.

A very special thank you to our Leadership Circle supporters:

To join our movement for moms and babies in need, visit:

JB-LF.org/support-us or call 703-462-2336

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