Chicago, IL  –The Jackson Chance Foundation goes high tech with new friends to spread its mission! The nonprofit proudly announces a partnership with mobile parking innovators FLASH and ParkWhiz to help spread its mission to make hospital parking for NICU families as easy and efficient as possible.

ParkWhiz app is a digital parking service that allows users to locate available parking spaces before reaching their destinations. No more stumbling to find parking tickets or dealing with parking machines when minutes matter most. In support of the Jackson Chance Foundation, ParkWhiz is promoting the mission of the foundation to its user base and providing the opportunity for donations.

Carrie Meghie, Jackson Chance Foundation co-founder said, “We are constantly looking for strategic partners to spread awareness of the Jackson Chance Foundation, the partnership with FLASH and ParkWhiz is a natural fit. It opens the door to educating the mission on how parking impacts NICU families and how the Jackson Chance Foundation fills that gap in Chicago.”

“Many hospitals define patient experience solely through clinical measures,” says Jonathan Isaacs, Vice President of Healthcare Sales at FLASH. “But the reality is that there are many environmental and psychological factors that contribute to a patient’s ability to get well, even more so when that patient is a newborn. Partnering with Jackson Chance Foundation was a great opportunity for us to support family involvement in the healing process.”

Visiting a baby in the NICU every day is just as important to recovery as the medical care they receive. But many families are unable to afford the transportation costs to make this a possibility, meaning many babies are left alone. Just one day of visitor parking, at a top Level IV Chicago NICU can cost upwards of $75.00, resulting in parking fees upwards of $1,000 per month. The average length of stay for a baby in a top NICU is 28 days, but the majority are there for months at a time. Jackson Chance Foundation believes this battle shouldn’t be fought alone or be plagued by additional burdens. Removing the financial burden of parking gives families the opportunity to be with their baby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“For NICU families, parking should be a forgettable experience, which is why FLASH is proud to be partnering with the Jackson Chance Foundation,” said Neil Golson, EVP of Marketing & Strategic Partnerships for FLASH. “We are fortunate that we can leverage the ParkWhiz platform to tap into our userbase and help support local Chicago families in need.”

This new partnership kicks-off in early June 2021 at all local Jackson Chance Foundation NICU parking locations, including Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Northwestern Prentice Women’s Hospital, and most recently Rush University Children’s Hospital. The Jackson Chance Foundation will also continue to offer its traditional parking passes to NICU families.