CMU Health receives grant to improve infant safe sleep

SAGINAW, Mich. – CMU Health announces the receipt of a generous award of close to $20,000 to reduce infant mortality through the purchase of 285 pack ‘n play systems to administer to patients in need.  

The funding awarded through the Saginaw County Health Department: Advancing Healthy Births Mini-Grant will provide babies with a safe and separate sleep environment to reduce the chance of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which accounts for about one-third of all sleep deaths in infants younger than one-year-old.

“Saginaw County has an infant mortality rate of 8.8 infant deaths per 1,000 live births and the city of Saginaw is averaging 13.2 infant deaths,” said President and CEO Dr. Samuel Shaheen of CMU Medical Education Partners. “These numbers are astronomical especially given that the majority of these deaths could have been prevented if the baby had been in a safe and separate sleep environment.”

A safe sleep environment consists of the use of a firm, flat sleep surface where a baby is placed on their back without objects nearby and in a crib, bassinet, or pack ‘n play separate from family members.

This grant also builds upon CMU Health’s coalition partner BWell Saginaw’s initiative to improve maternal and child health challenges in Saginaw County and the goal to reduce infant mortality rates in the City of Saginaw by 50% by December 2026.

Shaheen hopes these sleep systems along with the additional support resources CMU Health offers will encourage patients and the community to understand the importance of this lifesaving education and reduce the number of sleep-related deaths.

Current and new patients interested in these services may contact Kathryn Debo, community outreach and patient wellness coordinator, at 989-558-6428 or visit cmuhealth.org for more information.