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 Things you can do to promote awareness during National Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week: Visit a maternity hospital. Many maternity hospitals across the United States are implementing shaken baby education for new parents. Visit a local maternity hospital in your area that is implementing the program and discuss the experience with new parents and nurse-educators. Ask one of the hospitals serving your constituents to find new parents who might be willing to talk about their experience watching the video and how they've been able to use the information to help keep their child safe. If a local hospital isn't providing education, ask them how you can help. Visit your Regional Trauma Center. The critical head injuries that result from shaking young children typically require treatment at a regional trauma center. Many of those hospitals are members of the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Research Institutions. During your visit, ask medical staff to describe the procedures that are employed to treat children with shaking injuries. Ask them to tell you about the impact of those cases on families and on themselves. Discuss how they can support education programs for new parents and care givers. Visit a Child Care Center. Ask them how they work with their Child Care Resource Council to provide education about the consequences and prevention of shaking injuries to young children and their parents. Ask how staff are trained to cope with the frustration of dealing with very young children. Ask how they discuss the issue of shaking and frustration with clients that are new parents, and how they incorporate SBS and SIDS prevention into the staff training for those who care for infants. Discuss the increasing need for child care for babies and infants as a result of the increasing number of two wage-earner homes. Visit a School. Visit a parenting or babysitting class at a local high school or middle school. Ask how they incorporate SBS prevention education into the parenting curriculum. Discuss SBS awareness with students. Ask about their experience caring for young children. Ask if they know students who are parents. Acknowledge the great job most students do in accepting the responsibility of caring for siblings or with babysitting. Discuss the importance of coping with frustration both when dealing with children and in other circumstances. Offer cautionary reminders about the Washington babysitter and other examples where young children have been injured by young babysitters. Write an Op-Ed Article. Emphasize the number of cases, the cost and the opportunity to prevent injury to children. Visit a Foster Care or Adoptive Parent Training Program. Discuss the importance of preparing to cope with the sudden responsibility of caring for a very young child. Visit your District Attorney Discuss their experience with Shaken Baby Syndrome cases. If theyve had recent experience with a case involving injuries inflicted on a very young child, ask to meet with the entire investigatory team that dealt with the case. Ask about the costs of investigating and prosecuting cases successful, the problems in obtaining convinctions and the costs to families involved in the criminal justice process. Visit a Volunteer Ambulance Service. Discuss their experience transporting shaken babies and the events that surround the investigation. Visit a family who has been affected by Shaken Baby Syndrome. Discuss their experience, especially if the child survived with injuries. Discuss the medical costs, who paid for those costs, the continuing costs of rehabilitation servcies, and the impacts of the injury upon the family. Visit local Social Services agency. Discuss how they are incorporating prevention education into their activities. Visit a local probation office. Discuss how they deal with the release of individuals convicted of shaken baby cases and how they are providing information and education to parents of young children involved with the probation and Court system. Talk with a new parent. Talk to a family member, friend, employee or someone else you know who has recently had a child. Discuss the frustration and how they are coping with that frustration. Ask whether they have been educated about the potential for shaking injuries and how they can protect their child by talking to other care givers. Ask about the need for parenting education in general and what resources they think are needed for their community. Visit with a Hispanic parenting educator or education group. Discuss whether resources are available to support Spanish-speaking parents. Here's most everything you need to do a good thing. The attached documents (Word format) are: - a draft resolution that a county or local government could adopted to declare the third week of April as SBS Awareness Week - a letter to state legislators that supports action by the State Legislature to designate the Week and other actions 1. If you're from New York , please write or email your legislators to ask that they support designation of SBS Awareness Week. 2. If you're not from NY, please consider asking your state legislators [Look up addresses at www.vote-smart.org] to introduce similar resolutions. Designation of SBS Awareness Week by a number of states demonstrates broad support and might interest national media. If you would like to see a sample letter click here, modify it as you wish. 3. Please write your US Senators and your Represenative and them to support the designation of Shaken Baby Syndrome Week by Congress. You may want to note that there is no mention of Shaken Baby Syndrome in the Congressional Record since the adoption of the original SBS Awareness Resolution in 2001. [Look up addresses at www.vote-smart.org] 4. Consider including a statement of support for establishment of a specific educational requirement about SBS and SIDS as part of training requirements for child care workers. Right now, only Texas, Utah and Alaska require that training by law. 5. Consider a statement of support for funding of hospital education programs. They save $1.73 in taxpayer dollars for every dollar we spend on them. Here is downloadable information on how to support hospital education legislation. Voice your support to your state legislators in favor of the State Senate bill and the State Assembly bill for hospital education to parents of newborns. 6. Here is a copy of a letter I sent to President Bush asking him to declare the third week of April as National Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week. George Lithco
Legislation that requires hospitals to include information on the causes and consequences of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) in an informational brochure provided to new parents was signed into law on August 7. The bill was first introduced by Assemblyman Sam Hoyt and State Senator Patricia McGee in 1998. In response to the recent shaking deaths of several young children in the Hudson Valley, local legislators, including Bill Larkin, Stephen Saland, John Bonacic, Kevin Cahill, and Patrick Manning supported passage of the bill. The Skipper Initiative, a local organization formed to increase awareness about Shaken Baby Syndrome and to educate parents and caregivers about how it can be prevented, applauded the adoption of the legislation. George Lithco, a founder of the Skipper Initiative and a supporter of the bill, said "we recognize that it is only the first step in implementing the highly effective SBS prevention program developed by Dr. Mark Dias at the Children's Hospital of Buffalo, but it is an essential step." Noting that approximately 700 babies are born on an average day in New York State, Lithco said that it is unfortunate that the bill doesn't take effect for 60 days. However, he observed that "we have some great hospitals in the Hudson Valley, such as Vassar Hospital, that did not wait for a law. They have already started to work with the Skipper Initiative and the Child Abuse Prevention Center to implement the Dias program, a remarkably successful program that reduced the incidence of SBS in western New York by more than 60 percent. There is no reason that we can't do that here in the Hudson Valley to protect our children." Using an 11 minute videotape, a SBS information brochure, and 5 to 10 minutes of a nurse's time, the Dias program ensures that parents of newborn children actually receive the information they need to protect their child against shaking injuries. Dr. David Corwin, a Utah researcher replicating the Dias program, secured funding for the program from Utah health insurers and the state Medicaid program by comparing the program to a "vaccination" against SBS. Another high priority for the Skipper Initiative is to ask lawmakers to take steps to increase SBS awareness and education for child care providers. National statistics indicate that nearly 25 percent of SBS incidents involve day care providers (both licensed and unlicensed.) In New York State, four SBS deaths within the last year involved day care providers. For instance, when Governor Pataki announced in June that the State would mail all day care providers information about the "Back to Sleep" campaign to reduce SIDS deaths in day care settings, the Skipper Initiative requested that the mailing also include information on preventing SBS injuries and increasing SBS awareness. Unfortunately, the need for such efforts is not unique. In March, the State of Michigan mailed a special SBS alert to 22,000 licensed day care providers following a string of SBS deaths involving day care providers. Lithco points out that the initial training required to become a licensed day care provider in New York does not currently include information about SBS or how to prevent it. Lithco believes that it is especially important to educate caregivers in day care settings that shaking can even injure children who are 4 or 5 years old, not just 'babies'. He hopes that the Legislature, state agencies and local governments will continue to work creatively and use such opportunities to help parents get a similar message across: caregivers must anticipate moments of frustration and remember to "never, ever shake young children." 
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