Ted Potts
The Tribune-Democrat
JOHNSTOWN —
The founder of the statewide Cribs for Kids program will visit Johnstown on April 8 to discuss the educational program, which strives to reduce the risk of injury and death for infants due to unsafe sleep environments.
Judith A. Bannon of Pittsburgh will speak from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Memorial Medical Center. The meeting will be held in CrossRoads Cafe in the clinical pavilion on the third floor.
Bannon also is executive director of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) of Pennsylvania.
Cribs for Kids is aimed at preventing deaths of infants from positional asphyxia, a term meaning an infant suffocated because he could not reposition himself to prevent the death.
Four deaths from positional asphyxia have occurred in Cambria County since 2007, said Joanne Weaver, a member of the county’s child death review team and administrative assistant in the coroner’s office.
Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller said there have been no deaths from positional asphyxia there since 2007.
While the Cambria County figure is low, even one death is too many, Weaver said.
That and the fact that some may not be aware of Cribs for Kids prompted the Cambria program, she said.
Bannon will discuss Cribs for Kids as well as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Weaver said.
Letters have been sent to a myriad of agencies inviting them to the meeting. Area physicians also were invited.
Cribs for Kids provides a “Pack and Play” crib for eligible recipients. The program is aimed at low-income parents, Weaver said.
“We’re having the program so the various agencies will have a good understanding of how it works,” she said.
In Cambria County, referrals are made to the Family Center in Moxham, which is affiliated with the Alternative Community Resource Program. Education and distribution of the Pack and Play cribs is done through Home Nursing Agency in Ebensburg and Beginnings Inc. in downtown Johnstown.
