Presenter Profile
Felicia A. Clark, D-ABMDI
Prevention Coordinator, CPASS Chicago
Cook County SUID Case Registry and Prevention
Felicia A. Clark D-ABMDI, is a Certified Medicolegal Death Investigator. She worked as the Child Death Investigator for the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office for nearly 10 years. After retiring from the CCMEO in February 2021, she partnered with the Cook County SUID Case Registry to establish and serve as Prevention Coordinator for Community Partnership Approaches to Safe Sleep (CPASS)-Chicago. Felicia also serves on the Illinois Child Death Review Team for Cook County and the Family Focus Advisory Board, in Cicero, IL. Felicia can be found throughout Chicagoland communities creatively engaging, equipping and empowering families to practice safe sleep and distributing safe sleep education material and cribs to underserved communities. Felicia is a Follower of Christ, a wife to Thomas, a mother to 3 adult children, one of whom has special needs, and a grandmother to one granddude.
Presentations
Way Beyond the ABC’s: Tailoring Safe Sleep Training for Community Health Agencies
Felicia Clark, D-ABMDI
Christie Lawrence, DNP, RNC-NIC, APN/CNS
Gina Lowell, MD, MPH
Following extensive dissemination of the Cook County SUID Case Registry (SUID-CR) data and Community Partnership Approaches for Safe Sleep (CPASS Chicago) prevention efforts, CPASS Chicago was asked to provide safe sleep training to the City of Chicago’s postpartum home visiting nurses. This invitation spurred our efforts to replicate and expand CPASS Chicago’s approach with families and community members to reach community health partners supporting pregnant and parenting families.
This workshop will provide an overview of the CPASS Chicago approach and lessons learned in tailoring Safe Sleep training to specific community health agency roles and needs. We will share our experience training home visiting nurses, doulas, social workers and WIC providers. We will discuss the value of 1) sharing local epidemiology coupled with individualized SUID case review, 2) describing barriers to safe sleep among specific populations served by community health agencies, 3) listening to community health partners’ experiences within their community, 4) encouraging community health partners to consider their role in SUID prevention, and 5) using a trauma-informed, strengths-based, relational approach.
We will then break out into 3 groups to lead colleagues in considering various approaches to tailoring safe sleep training for their communities. We will share elements of our approach including humanizing data, conversation starters, #clearthecrib challenge, building on agency values, strengths and assets, addressing common myths, and providing tangible resources. At the conclusion of the workshop, colleagues will come away with methods to strengthen their safe sleep training approaches to get way beyond the ABC’s.
1. Identify opportunities within your current workflow to address safe sleep practices in your community.
2. Identify strategies for addressing barriers within a specified population.
3. Analyze the applicable areas of evidenced based practice that address safe sleep barriers & solutions.
4. Summarize opportunities for optimizing safe sleep practices and provide family-centered methods to support safe sleep.