DETROIT (WXYZ) — On Sunday, September 11, while Deveia Martin fought to bring her sixth child Josiah into the world at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, just seven miles away, her family home in Detroit and everything she'd done to prepare for her little boy, was burning to the ground.
"Around 3 o'clock Sunday morning my neighbor called basically saying open the door, open the door, your house is on fire," said Daveia Martin. "I had a baby shower August 27, everything that everyone brung, just burnt. What else am I to do? That’s the only thing I could think of is, what am I about to do?"
While these thoughts raced through Martin's head, the women who were helping deliver her baby overheard her conversation on the phone.
"I think that was one of the biggest thoughts was how can we help? What can we do?" said Mesha Farrington, unit educator for the Mom/Baby Unit at Henry Ford Hospital.
Farrington and her co-workers say they did what nurses are meant to do. They helped this mother.
"Everybody was like, ‘Well we want to help,’" recounts Martin. "It was just like ‘Ya’ll really want to help me?' like, 'Ya’ll want to help me??"
Henry Ford has an annual "baby shower" put on by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Club every spring.
At the event, piles of baby goods are donated to help moms in need throughout the year.
Henry Ford Hospital says they see around 2,500 births per year and about a third of those families fall into a needs based category where this program can help them out.
Because Martin's family need was so great, the nurses were able to gift her goods from the program and they've all banded together to donate personally.
"This has really been a team effort in that literally the entire labor and delivery team has pitched in," said Dayna Heitman, assistant clinical manager for labor and delivery at Henry Ford Hospital.
Martin said, "It’s less stress because I was just thinking like ‘I need to hurry up and heal so I can get back to work and get everything for my kids.’ So to have help? It’s really a blessing, trust me."
The Martin's still don't know what caused their house fire.
While Daveia, her husband, and their now six kids look for a place to stay, they tell 7 Action News they'll be getting a hotel room every night.
Their sister in-law has created this Go-Fund-Me you can donate to if you'd like to help the family get back on their feet.
The Martin's say they know it's going to be a battle to recover from this, but the nurses at Henry Ford have shown them that when times reach their hardest, the community has their back.
"They are really heroes, seriously," said Martin.
