Mercer County Community Hospital has recently been recognized by the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program as a “Safe Sleep Gold Hospital”. This recognition comes after the hospital demonstrated a commitment to best practices and education on safe baby sleep.
Created by Cribs for Kids®, a national safe infant sleep organization based in Pittsburgh, PA, the program was designed to prevent sleep-related infant deaths from Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) and accidental suffocation. As a nationally certified safe sleep hospital, Mercer Health follows the safe sleep guidelines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and provides training programs for healthcare team members and family caregivers at the highest designation level available.
According to Michael H. To Goodstein, MD, neonatologist and medical director of research at Cribs for Kids, “Sleep-related death (SRD) results in the loss of more than 3,500 infants each year in the US. We know that modeling safe infant sleep in the hospital and providing education to families has a significant impact on infant mortality. The Crib Hospital Certification Program is designed to recognize those hospitals that are taking an active role in reducing these preventable deaths.”
Ashley Piper, RN, OB Clinical Coordinator for the Childbirth Center at Mercer Health expressed pride in their efforts to join the national movement to reduce infant mortality. She stated: “We have always been promoters of safe sleep. The National Hospital’s Safe Sleep Crib Certification is an important step in our efforts to provide parents and caregivers with the evidence-based information they need to ensure their babies sleep safely from day one.”
For more information on the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program for Cribs, you can visit https://cribsforkids.org/hospitalcertification/. If you are interested in learning more about the Childbirth Center at Mercer Health, you can visit https://mercer-health.com/our-services/childbirth-center/.