Nearly 90 Percent Of Americans Are Not Aware That Most Emergency Departments Are Not Prepared For Babies Or Children

NEW YORK, May 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The R Baby Foundation (R Baby) today announced the findings of a recent phone survey of 1,000 Americans which revealed that nearly 90 percent are not very aware that most Emergency Departments/Rooms are not prepared for babies or children. One in five children will make one or more visits to an ED each year according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The survey showed that close to 100 percent of the Americans surveyed said they would expect that if an Emergency Department (ED) said they were a Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) they would have pediatric emergency specialists as well as the appropriate supplies and equipment ready.  However, this is not the case for many families across our country today. There are currently no unifying standards or guaranteed levels of care for babies and children in emergency medical situations.

Concerned about this critical issue, over 30 of America's most passionate and influential mom bloggers including Nicole Feliciano of Momtrends.com, Rebecca Levey of KidzVuz.com and Julia Beck of Forty Weeks, have added their voices to R Baby's call to action for parents to demand increased pediatric emergency care standards through a national petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-that-your-emergency-department-is-prepared-for-your-child.

Using their powerful social media voices, a recent Twitter party led by Amy Bair of @resourcefulmom, championing this issue reached more than 10MM impressions and trended in NYC in just one hour, bringing in thousands of other moms into this important conversation and showing just how critical this issue is to parents.

"Over 30 powerful mom bloggers came together to support this important cause because every single one of them can relate on a personal level.  We've all been in an Emergency medical situation with our child at some point, and to think that there are currently no uniform standards of care or that an ER is not equipped to treat a baby or child is unacceptable.  This is a cause every parent can get behind," said Rebecca Levey of KidzVuz.com who is helping to lead the social media initiative for R Baby.

R Baby's co-founders, Phyllis and Andrew Rabinowitz, faced such a tragedy.  "We lost our nine day old daughter Rebecca after she was misdiagnosed as having a common cold in an ED that claimed to be a PED," Phyllis explains.  "Through our work since establishing R Baby in 2006 to honor Rebecca, we have learned that we are not alone in our suffering. It is time for parents, lawmakers and medical personnel to unite and make sure our emergency system for children is prepared for all situations in any neighborhood. Babies cannot speak for themselves and it is all of our responsibility to protect them."

Education for parents is key, approximately half of Americans in the poll admitted that they do not even know where their closest Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) is located, while only 15 percent seemed eager to do research to find out.

The majority of parents surveyed thought it would be very helpful to have a universal definition of a PED created by the federal government or other governing health bodies in order to mandate that a hospital must meet certain criteria before they could say that they had a PED on-site.  The R Baby petition will demand that these criteria be put in place so parents can get the best care possible for their child in an emergency,

About R Baby Foundation

R Baby Foundation® is the first and only not-for-profit foundation uniquely focused on saving babies lives through improving pediatric emergency care. R Baby grants provide pediatric training for emergency personnel, equipment, and education for both the medical community and for parents.  Recent grants for medical education and training have resulted in a dramatic increase in the success rates of physicians learning to treat babies who cannot breathe properly.  Enhanced equipment at one hospital has decreased the time to diagnose viral infection from as long as two weeks to less than three hours. To date, R Baby has raised over $5 million with more than 90 percent of every dollar spent going directly towards these impactful and life-saving grants that improve pediatric emergency care and services.

R Baby Foundation was established in 2006 to organize and fund efforts to improve the outcomes of medical care for infants, particularly those who contract certain viral infections within the first month of life.  R Baby Foundation® is the first and only not-for-profit foundation uniquely focused on saving babies lives through improving pediatric emergency care.  R Baby Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that babies, including those in the first month of life suffering from viral infections and other infectious diseases, receive the highest quality of care and service through supporting life-saving pediatric training, education, research, treatment and equipment.  R Baby is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization.

For more information on the Foundation, contact Executive Director Katie McCulloch at 973.564.8611 or [email protected]

SOURCE R Baby Foundation