ORLANDO, FL -- March 18, 2010 -- In an effort to reduce infant mortality, educate new parents, and provide infants with appropriate levels of health and emergency care, the Emergency Medicine Learning & Resource Center (EMLRC) announces the
launch of its educational
DVD, Baby 911.

Created to provide new parents and caregivers with important emergency and health information they may need during their baby’s first year of life, the DVD features topics such as how to correctly take an infant’s temperature, how to clear a baby’s nasal passages, proper feeding techniques, rescue breathing and baby CPR, to name a few.

Baby 911 was authored by Richard M. Slevinski, M.D., an emergency department physician who has seen thousands of infants and their families in his emergency department during his career. “So many new parents feel uncomfortable or inadequately prepared to deal with their newborn’s health issues at home and turn to the emergency department for help and reassurance,” said Slevinski. “I envisioned Baby 911 as a means of educating and empowering new parents to provide appropriate medical care to their infant.”

Each year, 28,000 infants under the age of one die in the United States. Many of these deaths happen as a result of new parents who don’t have the knowledge or skills to adequately care for an infant. Additionally, parents often are not aware of when they should take their infant to the emergency department for life saving care.

According to a 2008 report in the Orlando Sentinel, newborns are treated in the emergency department (ED) more than any other age group and nearly all U.S. children are taken to an ED at least once during their first year of life. According to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), for the 12 months ending March 2009, children under one year of age made more than 202,000 ED visits. Of those children, nearly 19,000 were admitted for inpatient care.
“In addition to providing parents with valuable information and infants with appropriate care, we believe Baby 911 has the ability to impact the healthcare resources,” said EMLRC CEO Beth Brunner.
Baby 911 was developed and produced with assistance from Florida Hospital in Orlando and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, which will distribute the DVD to its members.

Baby 911 is available at www.baby911.org. Proceeds will be used to fund training and educational programs for emergency medical professionals and the general public.

The Emergency Medicine Learning & Resource Center (EMLRC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and advancing emergency medicine, disaster management, pre-hospital emergency care and public health through the provision of educational and research programs. The EMLRC provides lifesaving education for lifesavers.

For further information contact:
John Todaro, Director/Chief Operating Officer
Emergency Medicine Learning & Resource Center
3717 South Conway Road
Orlando, FL 32812-7607
Phone: 800-766-6335
Email: jtodaro@emlrc.org
Internet: www.emlrc.org

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