The Virginia Regional Perinatal Councils (RPCs) were formed in 1992 to provide support and coordination of perinatal health services, and to assess the needs of infants and women of reproductive age. There are five regional councils so that those services can be better tailored to the specific needs of each geographical area. Visit the region's individual page to learn more about the activities of each council. In addition to administering the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Program (FIMR) program, Virginia Regional Perinatal Councils provide bereavement support, resource and referral information, and coordination and linkage of perinatal health services.

KEY LINKS:

MARCH of DIMES LINKS:

RPC SPECIAL PROJECTS:

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Baby Basics Moms Club of SW VA is a special project of the SW Region.

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{family.extended.} is a special project working to improve family outcomes in the East Central Region.

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Perinatal Promotores de Salud Community Outreach is a special project of the Northern Region.

REGIONAL MAP:

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Click to enlarge map

Hospital Safe Sleep Tool Kit

Dr. Michael Goodstein, Medical Director for Cribs for Kids, has developed a complete hospital safe sleep tool kit. It is available at http://cribsforkids.org/hospital-initiative-tools/. The tool kit includes many free materials, including instructions on how to start a hospital-based safe sleep program and a sample hospital safe-sleep policy. 

Nap Nanny Recliners Recall

This product has been recalled due to 5 infant deaths. Additional information can be found at:
http://cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtm113/13083.html.

National Institutes of Health Expands Outreach for Safe Infant Sleep

The U.S. national campaign to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome will now encompass all sleep-related sudden unexpected infant deaths. The campaign, formerly the Back to Sleep Campaign, has been renamed the Safe to Sleep Campaign and is sponsored by NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Many SIDS cases are due to accidental suffocation and entrapment, such as an infant trapped between a mattress and a wall, or bedding material pressing on or wrapped around an infant’s neck. In addition to stressing the placement of infants on their backs for all sleep times, the campaign emphasizes placing infants to sleep in their own safe sleep environment and not on an adult bed. Safe to Sleep also emphasizes breast feeding infants when possible which has been associated with reduced SIDS risk, and eliminating such risks to infant health as overheating, exposure to tobacco smoke, and a mother’s use of alcohol and illicit drugs.  Visit Safe to Sleep Public Education Campaign for links to a new SIDS video on YouTube, download their new 12-page brochure and get info on how to order up to 500 free printed copies. Click to download the new and informative Safe To Sleep Fact Sheet.

CDC Warning on Infant Sleep Positioners

Unintentional suffocation is the leading cause of injury death among children aged <1 year in the United States, accounting for nearly 1,000 infant deaths annually. Since 1984, an estimated fourfold increase has been observed in accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed, with many of these deaths linked to unsafe sleep environments. Infant sleep positioners (ISPs) are intended to keep an infant in a specific position while sleeping, yet ISPs have been reported to have been present in the sleep environment in some cases of unintentional infant suffocation. Go to full text>>>
The Virginia Department of Health, Office of the Chief Medical  Examiner released these reports in 2012:
March of Dimes CNE Module  "Intrapartum Nursing Management of Preterm Labor" (2013):  Slide Module by Audrey Lyndon, PHD, RNC,CNS-BC, FAAN.  5.0 Contact hours. There is no charge for reading the content; pay only if you want to take the CNE test for contact hours. Test fee is $15. Designed for registered nurses who provide triage, stabilization and intrapartum care for women at risk for preterm birth due to preterm labor or preterm premature rupture of membranes. View content <HERE>. 
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention produces a monthly webcast created to foster discussion on major public health issues. The presentation for October 2012 was "Public Health Approaches to Reducing U.S. Infant Mortality." The archived one-hour presentation can be viewed on their website.
Virginia Early Intervention Professional Development Center offers free online learning opportunities. You may also go directly to the eLearning Center to view module titles. One of the newest offerings is An Early Interventionist’s Guide to Prematurity which addresses prematurity and how the preterm infant develops. To access the modules, you will be asked to create a free account. A certificate will be granted upon successfully completing a module.
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