GERADINE SIMKINS: This first work station is called the Safe Sleep Environment station,
and what we're doing is having a simulated
sleep environment where we have a baby,
and we have a pillow, and we have a blanket, and we have a few
items here that are with the baby. And so...
what our goal is is to determine what is a safe environment,
and what's not a safe environment. But in order to do that– remember we were
talking earlier about the fact that we were going to give you some
ideas of ways to talk about this with clients and people
that you encounter? How we're going to work that, is we're going to look at
some scenarios here, and the scenario is going to tell us
what we're going to talk about with this– with this sleep
environment. So, for example, say group number one is here,
and you've got your four people here. Then, one person at a time will
take their paper, and they will read it.
PARTICIPANT: You have a table at a pow-wow, show us how you can
use this activity in that setting. GERADINE SIMKINS: OK, so she reads it–
in group number one, the first person reads it,
and so it is her job then, to pretend that she is at a pow-wow,
and that she's– you know– it's a fair– uh– a health– fuh...
you know... exhibit at a pow-wow. And so, she's going to talk about
what it is that would make for a safe sleep environment. Or one of the things that we like
to do, is we like to set up the environment
and just say to the people who gather around us,
"So, what's... what's not right about this environment? What do you notice
that might not be the safest?" So, as the person whose
task this is to do this scenario, you may want to do that.
You may want to say "This is what it looks like. Is this good?
Would you change anything about it?" And then the people in the group
with her are going to change what would be
um... you now... the items that wouldn't be in a safe sleep environment.
And then the next person is going to take the next scenario
and going to read it, and then she's going to do it, and on and on...
[laughter]PARTICIPANT: So, if I was a new mom bringing my baby home
I would try to comfort the baby. And pick her up...
Try to soothe her. I would clean out her bed, because those–
Do you sleep with things in your bed? OTHER PARTICIPANT: Yes. PARTICIPANT: You do sleep with
bottles and pacifiers? I don't think the baby would think that was very comfortable.
I'm going to try to clear that out. And, babies don't really need pillows as they sleep.
They don't need that support on their backs. So, I would just try to calm my baby,
get her to stop crying... Maybe burp her... Maybe she has a tummy ache...
And... I would wrap my baby– I would– I would have
her in some warm pajamas. Try to soothe her. Have her in in her warm pajamas.
And just lay her flat on her back in her bed after she's asleep.
And, you would be surprised at how much better she's going to sleep.
OTHER PARTICIPANT: OK. GERADINE SIMKINS: And so the idea is to be able to begin to talk about it.
You know? And, pretend like, for example,
so she's the health educator at the pow-wow. She's showing you
three of you gals– say you're teenage gals– walk up to the table,
and you're going "Oh, a baby! Oh isn't that cool?"
You know, "What are you doing here?" And then she says, "Well, here's what we're doing here."
Then the three of you begin to ask questions– act as if you are
the teenagers that walk up, so that you can be having an interaction
so that some of the questions that might come up in a real situation
you can begin to discuss with one another. But also, in addition, on your table,
will be the key points for Safe Sleep Environment
work station, the play card. And so, each of you will get one of these papers
and these are yours to take with you. And so, as you begin the
little exercise, you might just want to read this over. Get an idea
of what it is that you're talking about here. Or you might not want to read it over,
and you might just leave that till the end, and then after you do your exercise, for about
fifteen... eighteen minutes per station, then afterwards,
together you might want to review this, and say, "How'd we do?"
You know, and then you as the leader in this case might be reading this and say, "Well...
this is how you did."
So, this is called the Safe Sleep Message station.
This is an item that was produced– actually it was produced in Michigan,
by one of the Healthy Start nurses that was in the project that I was working
with, and it is very low technology
and very easy to do. And as a matter of fact, you can get copies
of these pages and have them laminated just like this
punch the hole, and voilà, you're ready to go. So, this is a really good
tool to take into homes, for those of you who are doing home visits.
Or even small clinics... This is a really, really, slick,
quick easy situation here. So, this is just
a simple Q&A... How do you make sleep safer
for babies? So, again, we're gonna–
we have the scenarios again, so the first person will take out her
scenario, will read the story, and it might say, you are
teaching a teen pregnancy class– let's just say that's the scenario.
So, she sits with her gals, and she says,
"How do you make sleep safer for babies?" And the other three
in the group give her answers... you know, come up with answers.
And then after you've exhausted some of the answers, on the back is
"A) By providing a safe sleep environment that addresses these issues:
Sleep position, sleep location,
sleep surface, sleep area, sleep temperature."
LEAD PARTICIPANT: OK, question five...
Why should the baby's– why should the baby's sleep area be in the same
room where others sleep?
OTHER PARTICIPANT: The baby has a bond with its mom. LEAD PARTICIPANT: Bonding.
UNSEEN PARTICIPANT: So you can be attentive to the child.
LEAD PARTICIPANT: Be attentive. UNSEEN PARTICIPANT: Be easier for her to breastfeed
and put the baby back in its own bed...
GERADINE SIMKINS: Pretty simple, straightforward. The idea of this particular one,
for me, is that it's not wordy, it's not complicated.
It's just pretty straightforward. You know?
How do you make it safer? By these things. OK?
So, what we're going to do again, is when we rotate after about fifteen or twenty minutes
then... you know... you decide who goes first again. Take your scenario,
sit in a circle or stand around, however you want to do it,
and this is what you'll work with. OK? And, I think there's
somewhere in the range of a dozen pages or so.
This tends to be one of the most interactive stations.
because we're talking about the continuum. Now, you probably remember when
we began the whole session here, we talked about the idea
of risk reduction. Right? Reducing the risk of
infant death. And what things reduce risk, and what things
increase risk. And on this continuum, you're going to place
um... these little cards. They have velcro on the back, and there's velcro strips
up there, and so... Baby placed to sleep on
its back, dressed in sleep clothing. Where do you think this might go?
[inaudible murmurs]
Reduced risk? OK. And then you decide
if it goes all the way over this way, or heading towards neutral, or what...
And, we'll just put it there for now. So you put that up there.
And the really interesting thing about this one, is you
have a conversation. You may think it goes here,
but you may think it goes here. and then you have a conversation about why.
You are already dealing with a clientele
that is at risk. So, they already get
some points for being at risk.
So, take that into consideration. When LaShauna gives an answer, she might
think something goes here, in the reducing risk,
or let me say– Natasha
might think it goes here, but you might think it goes there, because you–
so talk about that, and help each other understand this whole thing about continuum.
Because, this is the place where we try to help our clients
understand that they're smart, they care about their babies,
they want their babies to live, but what's the best way
to reduce risk, so that the babies don't die accidentally?
PARTICIPANT: So, let's talk about the dangers of having
you as the parent and the child with your other children
in the bed. OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Yeah I see that. Yeah.
PARTICIPANT: You have the risk of other children move, other children kick, and having a new baby in the bed
Well, that's just not safe. OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Right. Mmm hmm. PARTICIPANT: And then having the family dog
in there as well. OTHER PARTICIPANT: In the same bed, yeah..
PARTICIPANT: You're leading to the dog possibly suffocating the child. GERADINE SIMKINS: And you don't have to
use all of these pictures, because there's some that are redundant. In fact, at the beginning
you might even want to pick out a few, and say these are the ones we really want
to work with. And once again, you've got some risk
continuum uh... uh... scenarios. But frankly...
I think just working with these cards
and this chart, right off the bat, even without getting into the scenarios
right off the bat, is a really good way to begin the conversation.
And hopefully, you'll get into some of those conversations with like, "Well, grandma smokes,
and we live with grandma, and she's the elder, and we know that
smoking is not healthy for our baby, but she is dedicated
to her smoking, and she loves us too, what do we do?"