Breakfast Symposium of October 8th, 2008

New York City Safe Sleep Initiatives

Lorraine Boyd, MD, MPH, Director, Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health (BMIRH), NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene presented New York City Safe Sleep Initiatives providing an overview of the Department’s public health strategy and initiatives in reducing the risk of sudden unexpected infant death.

She emphasized the need for policy makers, service providers, and communities to work together toward assuring that infant safety is well understood and practiced.

She detailed the work of the NYC DOHMH’ S Infant Mortality Case Review Committee, which provides safe sleep peer education; stress the importance of breastfeeding as part of the educational process; and discusses how to talk creatively with women and families about their concerns. She distributed a Safe-Sleep flip book that provides important information in a low-literacy format.

She then spoke about the NYC Cribs for Kids campaign, which provides cribs to needy families and has developed a newborn home visiting program model which Dr. Boyd is seeking to expand.


45 Minute 14MB Audio File