A Mother’s Love
November 14, 2022
Endowed fund from pioneering founder of the Young Mother's Clinic is a gift for generations to come.
A lot has happened over the course of Dr. Ida Nakashima’s lifetime. The 98-year-old has witnessed a great deal – the Great Depression, an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II and a tuberculosis diagnosis that landed her in the hospital for nearly a year – all prior to her trailblazing medical career as a pediatrician. Along the way, Dr. Nakashima undoubtedly changed the lives of thousands of children, adolescents and young mothers.
In the late 1970s, Dr. Nakashima helped start the Young Mother’s Clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Back then, the clinic provided care to adolescent moms younger than 18 years old, giving them frequent appointments, guidance and education about being a new mom. Last year this same clinic that Dr. Nakashima founded over 40 years ago served more than 1,000 mothers, providing them and their children with a patient centered medical home focused on parenting and mental health support, future healthy pregnancies, family planning and, educational goals and enrollment.
“I want to keep the clinic strong and carry on my original hope for more frequent and supportive care for the young mothers and their babies.”
DR. IDA NAKASHIMA
Today, when a young mother comes to the clinic at the Children’s Colorado Health Pavilion, they receive care from a team of providers from pediatrics, psychiatry, OB/GYN and behavioral health. On top of clinical care for mothers and their children, the team at Children’s Colorado provides psychosocial support for these young families. The Young Mother’s Clinic celebrates its patients with gift cards for things like birthdays, graduations and holidays and provides help to purchase diapers, food and other necessities.
Dr. Nakashima’s children, Lisa and Chris, have graciously set up an endowed fund in their mother’s honor to help the clinic provide these special touches for its patients as the clinic carries on their mother’s legacy more than 40 years after she helped create it.
“There is nothing more gratifying than providing care to mothers and their children in the same medical home and medical visit. We know that a mother’s mental health, physical health and social stressors can impact a child at an early age and in the Young Mother’s Clinic we work to support all of these for our young families. I am very grateful for Dr. Nakashima’s forethought and for her generosity in establishing this endowed fund.”
DR. HANA SMITH
Medical Director of Young Mother’s Clinic