FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: November 6, 2006 Media Contact:
Vivian Muzyk
(919) 828-1819
Wilmington Health
Professionals Trained in SIDS Risk Reduction
Locals Learn Baby
Safe Sleep Practices to Lower Risk of SIDS in North
Carolina
November 9, 2006 - (Wilmington, NC) This
week, twelve health professionals from New Hanover
and Pender counties participated in a two-hour training
about ways to promote infant safe sleep practices and
to reduce the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
(SIDS). SIDS is the third leading cause of
infant mortality in North Carolina, and is the leading
cause of death for infants ages 1-12 months.
In 2005, 105
North Carolina babies died suddenly and
unexpectedly. Between 2001 and 2005 four SIDS deaths
occurred in New Hanover and Pender counties.
The North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation,
a Raleigh-based nonprofit working to reduce infant
mortality and improve the health of women and young
children across the state, offered the free training
at the NorthEast Branch Library on Tuesday, November
7. Titled Baby's Easy Safe Sleep Training
(BESST), the workshop promotes infant safe
sleep practices based on the American Academy of Pediatrics'
recommendations. The workshop addresses everything
from proper sleep positioning (placing baby on her
back) to crib safety and the link between secondhand
smoke and SIDS. The training also teaches the safest
way to tuck in a baby at bedtime and warns against
the dangers of co-sleeping.
Tuesday's BESST workshop was a "train
the trainer" program for local health educators,
community educators, SIDS counselors and childcare
providers from county health departments, hospitals,
and community based agencies. After the workshop,
Marta Pirzadeh, a consultant with the North Carolina
Healthy Start Foundation who conducted the training,
distributed free BESST educational flipcharts and SIDS
materials to participants to help them promote infant
safe sleep in their communities.
"The North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation
hopes no family will have to suffer a devastating loss
from SIDS," says Pirzadeh. "We created
the Baby's Easy Safe Sleep Training as a tool
for professionals to share with their community. Together
we hope to reduce the incidence of SIDS across North
Carolina."
BESST was developed in 2005 with funding from Blue
Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation. Since
its inception, more than 150 people have participated
in BESST workshops from 80 counties across North Carolina.
The Foundation will continue to conduct workshops
across the state. The BESST educational flipchart is
available at no cost to organizations that attend a
Foundation BESST workshop and commit to conducting
parent and caregiver workshops in local communities.
The BESST flipchart and trainings are also available
in Spanish.
The N.C. Healthy Start Foundation, a
nonprofit organization established in 1990, conducts
ongoing public education campaigns, advises state and
local policy makers, and provides technical assistance
and professional training focused on reducing infant
death and illness and improving the health of women
and young children in N.C.
