NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx Is the First Hospital in the Borough to Earn Certified Safe Sleep Designation
Aug 28, 2017
NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx is the first hospital in the Bronx to receive Safe Sleep certification from Cribs for Kids®’. According to the organization, its National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program recognizes hospitals’ demonstrated commitment to making babies as safe as possible in their sleep environment and to eliminating as many sleep-related deaths as possible. Only seven hospitals citywide are recognized through the program, six of which are part of the city’s public health system.
“We are very proud to be the only hospital in the Bronx to earn the Cribs for Kids’ Safe Sleep Hospital Certification,” said Maureen Pode, chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx. “The certification is an example of the hospital’s commitment to the community, making sure new parents leave the hospital educated and able to create a safe sleep environment at home for their newborn.”
To earn the Certified Safe Sleep Hospital designation, NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx was required to develop a safe sleep policy statement; train staff about safe sleep guidelines, the safe sleep policy, and the importance of demonstrating safe sleep models for parents; and educate parents about best practices for safe sleep and implement them in the hospital.
“Sleep-related death results in the loss of more than 3,500 infants every year in the U.S.,” said Michael H. Goodstein, MD, neonatologist and medical director of research at Cribs for Kids®. “We know that consistent education can have a profound effect on infant mortality, and this program is designed to encourage safe sleep education and to recognize those hospitals that are taking an active role in reducing these preventable deaths.”
The National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program was created by Cribs for Kids®, a Pittsburgh-based organization dedicated to preventing infant sleep-related deaths due to accidental suffocation. The program was created in partnership with leading infant health and safety organizations such as All Baby & Child, The National Center for the Review & Prevention of Child Deaths, Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs, Kids In Danger, Children’s Safety Network, American SIDS Institute, Charlie’s Kids, CJ Foundation for SIDS, and numerous state American Academy of Pediatric chapters and health departments.
In New York City, sleep-related injuries are one of the leading causes of death among infants, with 40 deaths in 2014 and 48 deaths in 2015, at a combined rate of 36.1 per 100,000 live births for 2014-2015.
In addition to NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx’s certification, the other New York City public hospitals that are Safe Sleep-certified by Cribs for Kids® are NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island and NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull (in Brooklyn), NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem and NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan (in Manhattan), and NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst (in Queens).