I still remember one of my patients from early in my career as an obstetrician in northern Michigan.

She lived nearly an hour from our clinic. One winter morning she arrived late to her prenatal appointment, apologizing as she walked through the door. The roads were icy, her car wasn’t reliable, and she had two young children at home while preparing for another baby.

Medically, her pregnancy was uncomplicated. But the stress she carried was not.

Like so many mothers I have cared for over the past 25 years, she wasn’t worried about the medical side of pregnancy — she was worried about gas money, groceries, rent, and diapers.

In rural communities, those everyday pressures often shape a pregnancy far more than any thing we see on an ultrasound.

That is why I am so excited that Rx Kids is finally coming to Montmorency County.

For years, I have believed that if we truly want healthier babies and stronger families, we have to address the realities families face outside the clinic walls. As physicians, we can provide excellent prenatal care — but we cannot prescribe relief from financial stress.

Until now.

Beginning April 1 (and despite the date, this is not an April Fool’s joke), Montmorency County will join Rx Kids, the nation’s first community-wide prenatal and infant cash prescription program. For families in communities like Atlanta, Lewiston, Hillman, and the surrounding townships, this support could make a real difference during pregnancy and the first months of a baby’s life. Founded by pediatrician and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Associate Dean of Public Health Dr. Mona Hanna, the program provides mothers with $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 each month during the baby’s first six months of life.

What began in Flint is now becoming a model for communities across Michigan and around the country.

And the evidence is already clear.

Across Michigan, in 39 communities where Rx Kids has launched, the program is already showing measurable improvements in maternal and infant health — including reductions in preterm birth, low birth weight, NICU admissions, housing instability, and postpartum depression.

Importantly, this success is not limited to large cities. Rx Kids is already working in rural communities across Michigan, including throughout the Eastern Upper Peninsula and mid-Michigan counties such as Clare, Gladwin, Roscommon, and Lake County. These communities share many of the same challenges we see in Montmorency County — long distances to care, limited resources, and economic hardship — and the program is helping families start strong there too.

Programs like Rx Kids also strengthen rural communities in another important way: they help young families stay and build their lives locally. When parents have a little more stability during pregnancy and a baby’s first months, they are better able to remain in their communities, support local businesses, and contribute to the long-term vitality of rural Michigan.

Counties like Montmorency face some of the greatest challenges in the state when it comes to infant health. Long travel distances to care, limited resources, and persistent economic hardship all contribute to higher rates of preterm birth and low birth weight.

Today, as CEO of Thunder Bay Community Health Service — a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) serving rural communities across northern Michigan — I am incredibly proud that our organization could help champion this effort in partnership with the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan. The program is led by Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and administered by GiveDirectly, the global leader in delivering efficient and effective cash transfers.

This work also would not be possible without the support of the bipartisan Michigan Legislature, which made the expansion of Rx Kids across our state a reality. At a time when it can feel like so many issues divide us, supporting healthy moms and babies is something leaders from both sides of the aisle have come together around.

Together, we are making sure Montmorency County moms and babies have something every family deserves:

A strong start.

As a doctor, I have spent decades caring for mothers and babies in northern Michigan. I know what these families are capable of when they are given the support they deserve.

My hope is that Montmorency County is just the beginning. Rural families across northern Michigan face many of the same challenges, and I would love to see Rx Kids expand to reach every community that could benefit.

As a physician who has spent a career delivering babies in northern Michigan, I know this much: when we support mothers, healthier babies — and stronger communities — follow.