Walla Walla, WA—Providence St. Mary Foundation was recently awarded a $2,000 grant by Walla Walla Exchange Club Foundation toward Providence St. Mary Medical Center’s SleepSack program. The program empowers local parents with education and precautions to aid in the prevention of sudden infant death syndrome.
The SleepSack program, which began in 2014, provides bilingual education and safe sleep instructional modeling using SleepSacks (wearable blankets that replace loose bedding) to swaddle newborns during their hospital stay. To emphasize consistent safe sleep practices, and to empower families to continue to follow safe sleep recommendations at home, all parents are provided with their own SleepSack and educational materials to take home, at no cost. Provided with education, modeling and their own SleepSack, families are better able to ensure safe sleep practices at home, resulting in a decreased risk of sleep-related infant deaths.
Safe sleep education is not new to the medical center, but now with this grant, Providence St. Mary is able to also send parents home with a SleepSack upon discharge. Patients have expressed their gratitude for the SleepSack because they often do not have one to mimic the safe sleep behavior of no loose blankets with newborns.
The Foundation is still seeking donor support to be able to continue this great program and create a special experience for parents and their newborns. For more information about how to contribute, visit providence.org/stmaryfoundation or call 509-897-2091.
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