Shaken Baby Syndrome
Prevention Campaign
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| The Central Massachusetts Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Campaign |
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Shaken Baby Syndrome Campaign Expands Regionally The Gardner News--January 28, 2005 By Sean DuBois, News Staff Writer The Central Massachusetts educational campaign pioneered by Heywood Hospital in Gardner more than a year ago to combat shaken baby syndrome is set for major expansion into new health care outlets. The Child Abuse Prevention and Protection Collaborative of Central Massachusetts announced in Worcester Thursday morning that its SBS campaign, which was first piloted at Heywood Hospital in September 2003, is expanding to more than 20 health care organizations throughout the region. The University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Worcester and HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster are among the two largest additions to the SBS prevention campaign. The program is already offered at Heywood Hospital in Gardner, Harrington Hospital in Southbridge, St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester and Milford-Whitinsville Regional Hospital in Milford. Since its 2003 premiere in Gardner, the campaign has provided training to more than 60 nurses and more than 400 social workers and health educators to help parents cope with crying infants and learn the dangers of shaking a baby, according to Alicia Lenahan, chairwoman of the collaborative campaign. “Together we educate parents of newborns and young children that they must never shake a baby,” she stated. SBS is often caused when a parent becomes overwhelmed by their baby's crying and out of frustration begins to shake him or her to the point that permanent brain injuries set in, resulting in lifelong mental and physical disabilities or death. There are between 600 to 1,400 cases of SBS reported in the United States each year, according to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome. The center claims that the average age of a child diagnosed with SBS runs between days after birth to 6 months old with the most frequent incidents occurring at to 4 months old. “In 2001, there were six cases of SBS in Central Massachusetts in that year alone,” stated assistant district attorney Mary Sawicki. She said preliminary results from a recent survey from the state’s Department of Social Services found more than 80 infants and children suspected or diagnosed as victims of SBS in the commonwealth. Of these youngsters, 16 resided in Worcester County, she said. Sawicki explained on Thursday that the Central Massachusetts SBS campaign was established to respond to these “horrific, preventable tragedies.” Karen Beaton, registered nurse and maternal child nurse manager at Heywood Hospital, said that she once had a new mother come to the facility with a baby sitter to have nurses at the hospital educate her on the effects of SBS. Of parents who were surveyed following their in-hospital education program, more than 90 percent had returned home and shared the information with another family member or baby sitter, according to Beaton. "That is powerful education," she stated. The new expansion of the SBS campaign was partially made possible through a $373,000 grant from The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, Inc.  | Return Home | About SBS | About the Campaign | What's New? | Great Links | |
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