Hospitals provide infant CPR kits to parents - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports
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Caleb and Mackenzie Bonds' son, Luke, is just one-week-old.
He is in the neonatal intensive care unit at Trinity Medical Center.
"He had a little bit of a breathing problem, from having 'baby lungs' he was born premature, so we got him down (at Trinity) and they've been taking really good care of him," says his father Caleb.
Babies like Luke, whose lungs are still developing, have a higher risk of respitory illnesses or SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome.
That is why the hospital has provided CPR training for his parents.
"It was very easy to learn and very straight to the point and teaches you the basics of CPR and how to save your baby's life," Mackenzie said.
Nurse practitioner Crystal Bailey says the training gives parents peace of mind.
"It just provides them a little more comfort knowing that they could possibly do something to save the life of their child if they choked or if they began to suffocate," says Bailey. "We require our parents to either have CPR training already or do the 'CPR anytime program', but I like to encourage them to do the 'CPR anytime' anyway because I think it's a good refresher, even if you have been CPR certified."
More than 16,000 Infant Anytime CPR kits, have been donated to seven local hospitals through the Natalie Henry Fund.
Stephanie Austeel, a UAB maternity ward nurse helps train parents with the Anytime CPR kits.
"We encourage all the parents to attend the class, premature babies can be at a higher risk of SIDS, so they do need to go ahead and know these steps of CPR," says Austeel. "It allows the parents to take home the material and present it to any family members, relatives, baby sitters, relatives, anyone that's going to be taking care of their child."
Haley Moore recently gave birth to triplets. Two of her babies remain in the hospital.
Moore is confident that through the training, she's ready to respond in any emergency.
"It was really helpful and I feel really prepared," says Moore.
Moore encourages others not just parents to learn this life-saving tool.
She says, "It is very important, I think they need to know and be prepared as well."
The American Heart Association provides the Infant CPR Anytime kits. you can purchase them through their website. They cost about $30.
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