Flushing Hospital Medical Center has been recognized by the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program as a Gold-level Safe Sleep Hospital for their commitment to best practices and education on infant sleep safety. It is currently the only New York City hospital outside of the city’s public hospital system (NYC Health + Hospitals) that has achieved this certification level. Previously, Flushing Hospital held Bronze-level certification since 2016.

The National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program was created by Cribs for Kids, a national infant sleep safety organization that works with healthcare organizations to prevent infant sleep-related deaths due to sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) and accidental suffocation.

As a Nationally Certified Gold-level Safe Sleep Hospital, Flushing Hospital is recognized for following safe sleep guidelines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and providing training programs for healthcare team members and family caregivers. Requirements for achieving Gold-level certification include:

• Implementing hospital-wide Infant Safe Sleep Policy
• Promoting safe sleep education on the hospital website
• Promoting hospital-wide infant safe sleep imagery
• Providing safe sleep training to staff caring for infants for more than one year
• Providing safe sleep education to family/caregivers of infant for more than one year
• Identifying families needing a safe sleep space and providing resources
• Implementing Quality Improvement measures based on compliance audits
• Using and/or gifting wearable blankets, or assigning Cribs for Kids Hospital-Wide Training Module to every hospital employee
• Engaging in at least two community outreach initiatives to educate the community on infant sleep safety

In the process of meeting and staying up to date with these requirements, some of the specific infant sleep safety initiatives implemented by Flushing Hospital include:

• Hourly rounds to monitor baby safety
• Instruction of medical staff, patients, and families on putting babies to sleep safely
• Community outreach, including educational events in the hospital lobby and clinics
• Educating and providing sleep sacks (which reduce the risk of strangulation or suffocation of babies) to patients

“Flushing Hospital consistently strives to educate parents and our community on how to provide the safest sleep environment for their babies,” said Maria DeMarinis Smilios, Director of Nursing – Maternal and Child Services at Flushing Hospital. “We feel this most recent Gold-level designation demonstrates our commitment to that goal.”

We thank everyone at Flushing Hospital who made this achievement possible and for their work to make our hospital the safest environment possible for newborns and their families.