www.johnsonpublications.zenfolio.com Brooke Robertson | Johnson Publications
Jackie Moline, Nebraska DHHS maternal / infant health program coordinator, (center left) present Perkins County Health Services registered nurses (l-r): Sheena Smith, Jill Johnson and Kim McVay with the hospital’s designation of Safe Sleep Champion.
PCHS designated Safe Sleep Hospital Champion
Perkins County Health Services has been designated a Safe Sleep Hospital Champion for committing to practice and promote safe sleep guidelines for infants.
Sudden Unexplained Infant Death (SUID) remains the leading cause of death in the first year of a baby’s life. Within Nebraska in 2015, the cause of death for 26 babies was listed as SUID. Many of these are preventable.
A survey of all birthing hospitals in Nebraska showed they did not provide consistent messaging about safe sleep in their employee and patient education.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) worked with the Nebraska Hospital Association, the Nebraska Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Nebraska Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative to launch the Nebraska Safe Sleep Hospital Campaign.
The goal of the campaign is to educate both parents of newborns and the staff at birthing hospitals within the hospital setting.
PCHS took the Nebraska Safe Sleep Campaign Pledge and met their goal to become Safe Sleep Champions. The process includes creating a Safe Sleep Policy, providing yearly education to hospital personnel, modeling safe sleep recommendations and educating parents with evidence-based safe sleep materials.