O’FALLON, IL – The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) will join forces with HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, SIHF Healthcare and HEALTHIER TOGETHER to launch Infant Safe Sleep Awareness Month, a statewide prevention and education campaign aimed at reducing the risk of sleep related infant deaths by providing essential information that can help save the lives of children ages one and younger.
WHO: Richard Fulton, area administrator for investigations, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
Deb Meidel, RN, BSN, manager, Women and Infants Center, HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital
Paula Brodie, vice president of communications and support services, SIHF Healthcare
Mark Peters, executive director, HEALTHIER TOGETHER
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WHAT: October is Infant Safe Sleep Awareness Month in Illinois. This year, DCFS announces a year-long campaign with the state’s public health, human services and community leaders.
WHERE: HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital
1 St. Elizabeth’s Blvd., O’Fallon, IL 62269
WHEN: Thursday, October 17, 2019 at 10 a.m.
WHY: Unsafe sleep is a leading cause of death for children one year old and younger. In 2018, 143 infants under the age of one died because of being put to sleep unsafely, including eight in St. Clair County. DCFS is leading statewide efforts, in collaboration with the state’s public health and human services agencies, health care institutions and community groups, to launch a year-long awareness campaign and help spread the word about how parents and others who take care of children can create a safe sleep environment for infants.
About the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Founded in 1964, DCFS is responsible for protecting children from abuse or neglect by responding to calls received on the Child Abuse Hotline, 1-800-25-ABUSE (1-800-252-2873). With the goal of keeping children safe, DCFS strengthens and supports families with a wide range of services. When keeping a child safe means removing them from the home, DCFS makes every effort to reunite them with their family. When the best interest of the child makes this impossible, DCFS is committed to pursuing adoption by loving families to provide children with a safe and permanent home. DCFS is also responsible for licensing and monitoring of all Illinois child welfare agencies.
About Hospital Sisters Health System The Hospital Sisters Health System’s (HSHS) mission is to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people through our high quality, Franciscan health care ministry. HSHS provides state-of-the-art health care to our patients and is dedicated to serving all people, especially the most vulnerable, at each of our 15 local systems and physician practices in Illinois (Breese, Decatur, Effingham, Greenville, Highland, Litchfield, O’Fallon, Shelbyville and Springfield) and Wisconsin (Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Oconto Falls, Sheboygan and two in Green Bay). HSHS is sponsored by Hospital Sisters Ministries, and Hospital Sisters of St. Francis is the founding institute. For more information about HSHS, visit www.hshs.org. For more information about Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, visit www.hospitalsisters.org.
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