After losing 9-day-old daughter, New York couple's charity trained 6,500 doctors

In July 2006, Phyllis and Andrew Rabinowitz took their newborn daughter, Rebecca, to doctors and an emergency department because she was congested, feeding slowly and having difficulty breathing.

Her symptoms were repeatedly diagnosed as a common cold, according to the family’s account published by the R Baby Foundation. Rebecca died on July 21, nine days after her birth. The couple later learned that their daughter had contracted an enteroviral infection, which can be life-threatening in newborns. Her death led them to establish the R Baby Foundation, with the aim of improving emergency medical care for babies and children.Twenty years later, the organisation says it has raised $18 million and trained more than 6,500 physicians across over 1,000 hospitals. On October 21, 2026, it marked the anniversary with a joint fundraising gala in New York City alongside the COPE Foundation, which supports families coping with the death of a loved one. According to the official website of R Baby Foundation, the event raised nearly $2 million. The money will support paediatric emergency-care preparedness and grief-support services for bereaved families.

How Rebecca’s death led to the foundation

Rebecca was born four weeks prematurely on July 13, 2006, according to R Baby Foundation’s website. She spent five days in a neonatal intensive care unit before being discharged. The next day, her parents noticed severe congestion, thick mucus, slow feeding and breathing difficulties. They sought medical attention, including at a hospital emergency department, but Rebecca was sent home after her symptoms were assessed as a common cold, the family said.She died on the morning of July 21. The family later learned that the illness was an enteroviral infection. The Rabinowitzes established R Baby Foundation in 2006 to address gaps in the training, equipment and procedures used to treat babies and children in emergency settings. The organisation funds medical education, research, training and equipment, working with children's hospitals to help improve care in community hospitals, where many children receive emergency treatment.

What the foundation says it has achieved in 20 years

R Baby Foundation says it has raised more than $18 million and trained over 6,500 physicians across more than 1,000 hospitals since its establishment. It also says its work reaches more than one million children annually through partnerships with medical institutions, including Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Mount Sinai. The organisation has established INSPIRE, which it describes as the world's largest paediatric simulation-based research network.

Its programmes focus on helping medical professionals recognise and respond to emergencies involving babies and children. The foundation is also pushing for wider policy changes.According to its website, its advocacy has contributed to paediatric emergency-readiness legislation in Texas, Florida and Utah. It is supporting the proposed Babies’ and Children’s Emergency Care Act, known as BECA, which aims to strengthen emergency-care preparedness nationally.

R Baby Foundation says about 2,100 children die each year in emergency departments that are not adequately prepared to treat them.

It also cites estimates that 83% of US emergency departments lack the equipment, training or protocols needed for paediatric emergencies, despite approximately 30 million paediatric emergency-room visits annually.

Why another foundation joined the gala

The event also supported COPE Foundation, short for Connecting Our Paths Eternally, which works with parents, siblings and families grieving the loss of a loved one. COPE was founded by Lillian Julien after her 20-year-old daughter, Michelle, died in a car accident in 1992. In her founder’s statement on COPE’s website, Julien describes how the loss inspired her to create a support network for grieving families.COPE now offers professionally facilitated support groups, workshops, retreats, educational resources and bereavement camps. Its programmes are intended to help parents and children cope with grief alongside people who have experienced similar losses. According to the gala announcement, COPE served more than 1,100 families and individuals in 2025.The two organisations approach loss from different directions. R Baby Foundation works to improve emergency care in the hope of preventing avoidable tragedies, while COPE supports people living with the aftermath of a death.

Nearly $2 million raised at New York gala

The October 21 event, called Cirquetacular, brought around 500 supporters, physicians, advocates and families to Capitale in New York City. It marked 20 years of R Baby Foundation’s work and raised nearly $2 million for the two organisations, according to the announcement. The evening included dinner, a live auction, an aerial performance and a fundraising appeal. CC Capital and law firm Skadden were the presenting sponsors, and singer Jac Ross performed at the close of the event.For the Rabinowitzes, the anniversary marked two decades of work that began after Rebecca’s death. The foundation’s stated goal remains to make emergency departments across the United States better prepared to care for children, while its partnership with COPE also directs support towards families who have lost someone they love.