History
In
the early 90s, Massachusetts Citizens for Children (MCC)
directed Dorchester CARES, a five-year child abuse
prevention and family support initiative funded by the
National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN). One
of the many components piloted and evaluated as part of
this demonstration was a Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS)
prevention project. NCCAN had funded the Ohio Research
Institute on Child Abuse Prevention to lead a three-year
SBS prevention pilot and MCC agreed to serve as one of
its sites.
During this period, MCC implemented a pilot education
program with four Boston-area hospitals including: Beth
Israel Hospital, Boston City Hospital, New England
Medical Center, and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Seven
community health centers participated including: Bowdoin
Street Health Center, Uphams Corner Health Center,
Little House Health Center, Codman Square Health Center,
Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, Neponset
Health Center, and Geiger-Gibson Community Health
Center. The Hyde Park Healthy Baby Program, a home
visitation program was also included.
Nurse Managers and health professionals in these sites
received trainings on SBS prevention. Educational
materials were distributed to new parents on their first
postpartum appointment. Evaluations collected from
parents and professionals became part of the national
evaluation on SBS prevention.
Committed to taking this effort statewide, MCC launched
on November 1, 1996, a public education campaign to
reduce infant death and disability due to SBS - only
months before the widely publicized death of 2-year-old
Matthew Eappen. Radio spots in English and Spanish were
distributed and parents who requested information
received a variety of materials about infant crying and
SBS.
Since then, as a leading spokesgroup on SBS in the
state, MCC has reach thousands of parents, caretakers,
professionals and the public through brochures and
printed materials, requests on MCC’s 800-CHILDREN line,
and information distributed by hospitals, clinics,
birthing classes, schools, etc. To date over 800,000 MCC
prevention brochures have been purchased by other states
that have adopted it as their core teaching tool.
MCC has worked extensively with television, radio and
the print media to promote awareness of SBS and its
prevention. It has provided assistance to communities,
such as Brockton, Haverhill and Framingham that in the
wake of local SBS cases were seeking to develop
prevention responses. Spurred by local cases of SBS,
several Massachusetts hospitals have also turned to MCC
for assistance on how to address these preventable
tragedies.
Current Efforts
In
Worcester County a number of factors converged in 2001
that helped forge a commitment to address the SBS crisis
in Central Massachusetts. SBS-related injuries to three
infants within a six-week period in the spring prompted
the Regional Legal Counsel for the Department of Social
Services and the Child Protection Project at UMass
Memorial Children’s Medical Center to contact MCC
requesting information and assistance. Several meetings
resulted in a consensus that a countywide SBS prevention
initiative should be established; the Central
Massachusetts SBS Prevention Campaign was subsequently
launched. The Campaign is a broad and diverse coalition
made up of child and family policymakers, providers, and
advocates from both the private and public sectors. MCC
Executive Director Jetta Bernier serves as Coordinator
for the initiative.
MCC’s comprehensive plan to reduce infant death and
injuries from SBS was approved by the coalition. Since
adoption of the plan, hundreds of professionals in the
county from health care, law enforcement, social
services and child protection have been trained. An
in-hospital SBS prevention program for parents of
newborns has been launched in each of five birthing
hospitals in the county and over 6,000 parents have now
been educated about SBS and about how to cope with
infant crying – a frequent trigger of SBS. Injury
surveillance efforts with the MA Department of Public
Health have helped to identify gaps in data coding and
collection and recommendations have been proposed to
improve those. Evaluation has been a cornerstone of the
effort so that effective programs and strategies could
be shared and replicated across the state.
In
September 2005, MCC helped establish the Hampden County
SBS Prevention Initiative and is currently coordinating
that county effort. Trainings have been conducted with
nurses at each of the three birthing hospitals in the
region and a day-long seminar on infant crying and
soothing was held for 60 local professionals. A training
for physicians and other health care providers is being
planned for 2007.
MCC
was instrumental in advocating for the development of
the Statewide SBS Advisory Committee which is now
staffed and co-chaired by the Department of Public
Health and for the passage of the comprehensive Shaken
Baby Syndrome Prevention bill which was signed into law
on November 16, 2006.
MCC’s SBS prevention work has been supported by several
foundations including: the Health Foundation of Central
Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Medical Society and
Alliance Charitable Foundation, the Jane Cook 1992
Trust, the Community Foundation of Western
Massachusetts, and the Davis Foundation. These funds
have helped MCC to provide training and technical
assistance to communities and to produce and disseminate
prevention materials statewide.
Currently, the SBS Prevention Center at MCC provides:
Ø
Project coordination of local SBS prevention efforts in
Worcester County and Hampden County
Ø
Training of nurses by nurse educators skilled in SBS
training and using an MCC-developed training approved
for Nursing Contact Hours by the Massachusetts
Association of Registered Nurses – over 450 nurses
trained to date
Ø
Nurses Training protocol for educating parents developed
by MCC and reviewed by SBS experts working in hospital
settings across the country
Ø
In-hospital SBS parent education tools, including
training protocol, evaluated videos, brochures, parent
certificates (all in English and Spanish) – over 5,000
parents of newborns trained to date.
Ø
Training of Trainers sessions for multi-disciplinary
professionals
Ø
SBS
Training Kit, including comprehensive curriculum,
television and video tools, articles, etc.
Ø
Collection, entry and analysis of SBS project evaluation
data
Ø
Public relations and SBS prevention awareness events
Ø
Production and distribution of SBS prevention materials
Ø
Comprehensive SBS information and links on
www.masskids.org.
For
more information, contact:
Jetta Bernier, Executive Director
Massachusetts Citizens for Children
14
Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108
617-742-8555
jetta@masskids.org
