Spread the health!
Provide a safe place for a new baby to sleep
In New York City many advances have been made in reducing some of the risks and barriers to good health for mothers and babies. However,
in many NYC neighborhoods babies are dying because of unsafe sleeping situations. Although the number of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
deaths has fallen dramatically in NYC, in the past 5 years 60% of unintentional injury deaths were due to suffocation and over half of those
deaths were due to an unsafe sleep environment-either sharing a bed with an adult and/or child, sleeping on a couch, and soft bedding. Babies
that are most often affected by suffocation-related deaths are born to low income families who cannot afford to protect their infants because
they do not have access to a safe crib.
These alarming statistics led the NYC Department of Health to become a partner of the national Cribs for Kids program in 2007,
which provides safe sleep education and a portable crib to high risk families without a safe space for babies to sleep. To date, the
NYC Cribs for Kids program has distributed over 3,000 cribs through the Newborn Home Visiting Program and the Nurse-Family Partnership
(NFP) in East and Central Harlem, North and Central Brooklyn and the South Bronx and NFP sites in targeted communities in all five
boroughs, as well as to NFP clients in foster care, homeless shelters, and Riker's Island jail.
As the Newborn Home Visiting and Nurse-Family Partnership programs continue to grow, so has the demand for cribs and safe sleep
education. The Health Department has only been able to scratch the surface of families in need of safe sleep education and a
crib. In December 2008, FPHNY's online fundraising brought in funding to provide a safe sleep solution for over 250 families. A donation of $100
will allow us to buy and deliver a crib for a family without a safe place to put their infant to sleep and to educate the family
about the importance of safe sleep. To donate now click here and please designate "Cribs" when you make your donation.
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