Kansas City,
06
February
2020
|
10:46 AM
America/Chicago

Children's Hospital Association: Children's Hospitals Partner with Community Organizations

By Kelly Church

Children's hospitals are looking for ways to not only engage their communities but also take advantage of integral relationships outside organizations have with patient populations. Here are three examples of community partnerships that are connecting community members to the resources they need.

Promoting safe sleep for infants

When Children's Mercy Kansas City conducted its 2018 community health needs assessment, the organization asked about 1,000 local parents how they put their baby to sleep: 30% of parents said on their stomach, and 8% said on their side. The last two assessments led to similar conclusions.

"We kept hearing from the community that there was a challenge in the availability of portable cribs," says Margo Quiriconi, director of community health initiatives at Children's Mercy. "Many agencies that were connecting with families with infants and providing safe sleep education didn't have access to portable cribs or would run out frequently."

Upon developing a formalized partnership, Children's Mercy connected Sleepyhead Beds with other community agencies that played a role in safe sleep practices. "The staff at Sleepyhead Beds had safe sleep training," Quiriconi says. "They wanted to understand what safe sleep was and why portable cribs were an option for families, and how they could best source them."

Quiriconi is working toward getting other community organizations that receive funding for portable cribs to turn over those funds to Sleepyhead Beds. "If Sleepyhead Beds can consolidate the funding, they could buy more cribs," Quiriconi says. "They have the storage space, and they can do bulk purchasing. There are a lot of advantages."

 

Read the full story via Children's Hospital Association

Learn more about Children's Mercy In The Community