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 URGENT – WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Dear friends,

As a friend of First Candle and an individual concerned about the devastation of losing a precious child, you know how important it is for families to know why their baby died.   Diagnosing sudden infant deaths accurately and consistently is also critical to researchers in their efforts to monitor national trends and develop prevention strategies.

In an effort to improve the investigation and reporting of sudden, unexpected infant deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed new protocols  to be used at the state and local level when conducting infant death scene investigations. Input for the revised form was gathered from medical examiners, coroners, forensic nurses, law enforcement, emergency medical personnel, and SIDS parents - our hats off to all those involved!

To ensure that this form is used properly and consistently, the CDC will also be conducting training workshops for investigators and certifiers on how to consistently collect data at the death scene and accurately report their findings on the death certificate.

The success of this effort depends on state and local medical examiners, coroners and death investigators adopting this protocol.  The CDC can not mandate the use of these materials.  Lack of resources and funding to support these in-depth investigations is also a concern that needs to be addressed.

This is why we need your help!

The dedication and passion of the SIDS community has been the grassroots catalyst behind the successful development of these standardized protocols. Now it is time to take it to the next level.  By launching a letter writing campaign, we hope to:

• Alert local medical examiners/coroners and other appropriate public health officials of the availability of these materials and the importance of their use in accurately classifying sudden infant deaths
• Advocate for increased funding to support this important initiative at the state and local level

Let your voice be heard! Following you will find step by step directions on how you can get involved with this campaign:

• Personalize this sample letter to local and state legislators. To find the name and email address for your local representatives, please visit: http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/stategov/stategov.html.  Once there, you can click on your state to be taken to your state legislature home page. From there you will be able to locate individual representatives, usually by county and/or district.
• Personalize this sample letter to the medical examiner in charge of death scene investigations for your state.  Please visit http://www.cdc.gov/epo/dphsi/mecisp/death_investigation.htm and click on your state (at the bottom of the page) to find your state contact. Since this list is not regularly updated, you may wish to call first to verify the appropriate contact.
• Also send this letter to your local medical examiner/coroner. Click here for a state-by-state listing of local officials.

Remember, personalized letters make a stronger statement!

• We would greatly appreciate it if you would send First Candle a copy of your letters for our files. Letters can be emailed to info@firstcandle.org or mailed to 1314 Bedford Avenue, Suite 210, Baltimore, MD, 21208.

The more than 4,500 families who continue to experience the sudden death of an infant each year are counting on us.  Can we count on you?