 |
 |
| Bookmark This Site |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Sample of a Letter to Your Legislators February 21, 2003 Hon. Sam Hoyt New York State Assembly 647 Legislative Office Building Albany, New York 12247 Hon. Kevin Cahill New York State Assembly 1 Albany Avenue Kingston, NY 12401 Re: Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Dear Assemblymen Hoyt and Cahill: We appreciate your continuing efforts to increase awareness about the prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Much has been done in the past year. The Children and Families Trust Fund has sponsored a statewide teleconference on SBS prevention, OCFS has provided training for licensed day care providers and hospitals in the mid-Hudson Valley continue to implement the prevention program first developed at Childrens Hospital of Buffalo by Dr. Mark Dias. However, the sad fact that children are continuing to be shaken by parents and caregivers demonstrates there is still a great deal that needs to be done to increase awareness and educate caregivers about the danger of shaking. Therefore, we request that you sponsor a legislative resolution to declare the third week of April (April 20 -26) as Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week in New York State. A draft resolution is attached. In the last two weeks, children in Greece, Mount Vernon and LaGrange have died or suffered serious injuries from shaking. These tragedies emphasize the need for action in New York to implement statewide the very effective prevention program developed by the Upstate New York SBS Prevention project. Education can prevent 60% of the shaking injuries that take place in New York State. You can also help by supporting the following actions: 1. Support hospital education for new parents. Provide funding for the Health Department to publish and distribute educational materials to all new parents, and develop training protocols for hospital staff that follow the Dias model. 2. Support education for all day care providers. Provide funding for OCFS to work collaboratively with local day care councils and other agencies serving children to provide information to all day care providers, both licensed and unlicensed. 3. Educate students. Encourage the Education Department to develop model SBS prevention materials that can be offered to schools as part of the new Parenting syllabus. 4. Educate parents who have infants and toddlers. Include SBS information as part of Senate and Assembly mailings to constituents during SBS Awareness Week, and provide funding to mail a SBS prevention brochure to everyone who has received a birth certificate since 1997, as well as with new birth certificates, so that parents who have already brought their children home are aware of the danger. 5. Establish the scope of the problem. Establish a State wide registry to identify cases in which children have been injured by shaking. Until this is done, an accurate assessment of the prevalence of shaking injuries, and the cost in lives and money, is impossible. 6. Please encourage the State to expand its investment in resources that will reduce shaking injuries for all of the 255,000 children born in New York State every year. All parents need to know that shaking a baby isnt an accident and can be prevented. 7. Call us at (845) 778-2121 (day) or (845) 473-3039 (evening) if we can help. Very Truly Yours,
CC: Hon. George Pataki Hon. Tom Roach |