Lauren Malloy

Buckle Up

A Community Outreach Coordinator provides safety seats for infants

By Jessica Bizik
Photography by Chris Crews

There’s only one way to describe Lauren Malloy. She’s simply passionate about life. The breast cancer survivor ran her first triathlon in October. Whether she’s skydiving, snowboarding, or commanding her dog to play dead when she says “bang,bang,” she takes advantage of every moment of life. That helps her to prepare for the patients she works with at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Each day she meets with oncology patients to make sure they’ve had their services. When she’s not in the clinic helping to create survivorship programs, she’s partnering with nonprofits. Some efforts help with the prevention of lung cancer, preventative screenings and healthcare.

But her true passion is helping to keep children safe. Before joining the oncology unit, Lauren used to manage the car seat program. Tons of mothers would show up looking for help obtaining a car seat. At the time, the team could only service inpatients and moms that were delivering. Because there’s such a huge gap in income, many low-income families cannot afford seats to protect their small children while driving. “There are a lot of kids that are not traveling safely. Three out of four car seats are not installed correctly. How can we help this population purchase a seat? ” In an effort to combat this problem, Lauren is creating a program that will help mothers receive a car seat kit, if they follow through on all of their prenatal visits.

The University of Maryland grad wants to get the car seat kit into the hands of the families that them the most.