Last fall, Julie Marin of Rosenberg in southwest Harris County experienced intensifying pain in her abdomen, prompting her to visit a hospital emergency room. There, tests revealed the then 21-year-old was pregnant.
“It was October 15, 2025, when I found out,” she recalls. She and her boyfriend immediately told their family, and Marin, a customer service representative, also notified her employer. “I didn’t have insurance, and the community program I was referred to from the hospital emergency room didn’t have an appointment until February. I wasn’t eligible for benefits until January, and insurance was going to cost me $500 per month. I was so scared and worried about how expensive my care was going to be, but one of my co-workers told me about the Neighborhood Health Center.”
Marin went to Memorial Hermann Neighborhood Health Center – Southwest hoping to find direction to the prenatal care that she knew she needed for a healthy pregnancy. What she found there was affordable, quality care from a compassionate provider who helped Julie manage her health and her pregnancy.
The Neighborhood Health Center had an RV-type vehicle parked on its grounds along Beechnut Street, adjacent to Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital. The Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center, the product of a collaboration between Memorial Hermann, the March of Dimes and Blue Cross Blue Shield, welcomed Marin, who was greeted by Paresa Alizadeh, a Memorial Hermann-affiliated family nurse practitioner.
“When Julie came to us, she was almost 21 weeks pregnant,” Alizadeh says. “We immediately connected her to the Community Resource Center at Memorial Hermann Southwest to help her apply for Medicaid for Pregnant Women through Texas Health and Human Services.”
Unfortunately, Marin didn’t qualify for the program because of her income, and obtaining private insurance was beyond her financial means. “Paresa told me she’d be able to care for me and my baby until delivery,” Marin remembers. “A weight was lifted off my shoulders. I felt so blessed to know that I had this option.”
Since its launch in January 2025, the Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center offers health services to underserved populations of women in Harris County, especially in southwest Houston neighborhoods. It provides well-woman and pregnancy care to women and functions as a medical home for women and babies. Infants, up to 28 days old, may also be seen for their newborn screening and a referral to a local pediatrician.
“Access to care is paramount during pregnancy,” Alizadeh emphasizes. “In Texas, between 80 and 100 women die each year during pregnancy and childbirth, and 80% of those deaths are preventable, according to March of Dimes statistics.”
These statistics, along with the data on health disparities among women in Harris County highlighted in the latest Maternal and Infant Health Report released in 2024 by Harris County Public Health, prompted the creation of the Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center. The mobile unit travels Monday through Thursday to nine different locations throughout southwest Harris County, allowing women without health insurance in this area the opportunity to receive free health services. It is staffed by Alizadeh and two medical assistants.
Alizadeh says that in addition to prenatal and pregnancy care, the unit also provides health screenings, including breast exams, Pap smears, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, domestic violence, blood and urine tests. The van also serves as a source of guidance for nutrition, exercise, diabetes management and substance abuse. Low-cost medications for chronic health conditions, infections and pregnancy may also be prescribed through the mobile unit.
For Marin, the mobile unit and Alizadeh’s care transformed uncertainty into a positive experience. “I loved having Paresa as my provider,” she explains. “If I could keep her for every pregnancy, I would.”
Marin kept all her monthly prenatal appointments, and Alizadeh managed her care, performing the recommended screenings for potential genetic disorders and common pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes, Rhesus (Rh) incompatibility and pre-eclampsia. Alizadeh also provided prenatal vitamins to aid in the healthy development of Marin’s baby and coordinated regular ultrasounds. And when Marin reached her 28th week of pregnancy, she began seeing Alizadeh every two weeks, following the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ recommendations, succeeded by weekly appointments at her 36th week of pregnancy.
“The same day as my 38th-week visit to Paresa, I was involved in a minor car accident and went to Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital to make sure that the baby and I were OK,” Marin explains. “They were worried that my placenta may detach, so they decided that my delivery should be induced.”
It was soon discovered that Marin’s baby was also in the “sunny side-up” position, which means the baby is in the head-down position but facing the mother’s stomach instead of her spine. That’s the reason the obstetrician decided Marin needed to have a Cesarian-section for the safest delivery.
Baby Bryson was born on April 12, 2026. He was the first baby cared for by the mobile unit’s team to be delivered. He was healthy and weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces, measuring 21 inches long.
“Everyone at the hospital was absolutely amazing,” Marin notes. “I was so nervous, but the nurses were amazing.”
Marin stayed in the hospital for two days and returned to the Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center the next week to have Alizadeh remove the bandages from her C-section and provide wound evaluation and care.
“Paresa was wonderful,” Marin says. “She was a very, very caring provider, and I am so grateful for the care I received.”
“Women’s health is so dear to me,” Alizadeh says. “I have dedicated my life to women’s health and am honored to earn my patients’ trust. Everything we do in the exam room impacts whether a woman experiences comfort or fear. It reflects whether they will continue to seek care.”
“Paresa reassured me,” Marin recounts. “Having access to Memorial Hermann’s services felt like a weight lifted off of my shoulders to get care for me and my baby. I felt so blessed to have received care with the Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center.”
To make an appointment with the Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center, call (832) 883-9884