For local families caring for a seriously ill child, getting healthcare often means packing suitcases, arranging time away from work or school, loading siblings into the car, and driving hours to a pediatric specialty center in the Bay Area.
Salinas-based nonprofit Coastal Kids Home Care helps families make fewer of those trips by bringing specialized pediatric care directly into children’s homes. Its nurses, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, and other specialists provide in-home services ranging from symptom and medication management to counseling, palliative care, and end-of-life support, with 24/7 clinical guidance available to families.
The Coastal Kids team coordinates with local pediatricians, hospitals, and specialty clinics at Stanford Children’s Hospital and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals to help children receive appropriate treatments and therapies without traveling for every visit.
That work is supported in part by Montage Health’s Community Benefit program, which awarded Coastal Kids $10,000 in 2025 and another $10,000 in 2026.
“Coastal Kids is a natural fit for Community Benefit because our missions align so closely,” says Yasmine Elsherbini, director of Montage Health’s Community Health and Wellness team, which oversees the Community Benefit program. “At Montage Health, we want to provide people with advanced, quality care close to home. Coastal Kids does just that for children who have complex medical needs, and we’re proud to support that work.”
Care that comes to you
A Coastal Kids Home Care clinician provides specialized care in a child’s home.
Pediatric nurse Margy Mayfield, RN, BSN, founder and chief executive officer of Coastal Kids, established the organization in 2005 after seeing the toll that travel takes on families with sick kids. What started with two nurses has grown into a team of 176 nurses, therapists, and clinicians.
Coastal Kids now cares for about 700 children with complex medical needs each year across Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Santa Clara counties. Staff drive about 190,000 miles each year to reach families, with more than 105,000 home visits and 12,000 children served since the organization began.
“Children with serious illnesses spend enough time in medical settings,” Mayfield says. “When care can safely happen at home, they get to stay in their own routines, sleep in their own beds, and be surrounded by the people and things that are familiar to them.”
Making room for childhood, too
Coastal Kids also looks beyond the clinical parts of an illness. Montage Health's grants helped Coastal Kids sustain services like music and massage therapy, caregiver support groups, family outings, therapeutic play, and other age-appropriate activities to help children and siblings cope with illness.
In 2025, the funding supported a total of 27 family engagement events and support groups, and 98 percent of participants reported feeling more connected and supported. For families whose calendars can fill quickly with treatments and appointments, those programs make room for kids to be kids.
“Families caring for a medically fragile child can miss out on so many of the ordinary things other families take for granted,” Mayfield says. “These programs give them a chance to get out, have fun, connect with other families, and make memories together.”
Learn more about Community Benefit
Coastal Kids is one of 243 organizations Montage Health supported in 2025 through its Community Benefit program, which provided more than $228 million in community support and services that year.
Those investments are guided by the Community Health Needs Assessment, a comprehensive evaluation completed every three years in partnership with local organizations and residents to determine Monterey County's most pressing health needs. The 2025 assessment identified access to healthcare services as one of five priority areas.
Supporting organizations like Coastal Kids is one way Montage Health is working to improve that access, helping local families get more of the care they need closer to home.
Explore Community Benefit
