HICKORY — Catawba County Public Health said April 1, 2026, that it has launched a safe-sleep initiative for new parents after Care Management programs were awarded $8,000 from the Dr. Ann Wolfe Foundation.
The grant lets care managers in Care Management for At-Risk Children and Care Management for High-Risk Pregnancy and Postpartum/Newborn Home Visiting give enhanced safe-sleep education to soon-to-be and new parents who meet eligibility criteria. Funding is through a Wolfe Mini Grant awarded by the North Carolina Public Health Association. The program aims to provide kits and training to more than 80 local families.
Care managers in the at-risk-children program can provide a Pack ’N Play so babies have a safe place to sleep nearby but separate from parents, the county said. Each Safe Sleep Kit includes a portable Pack ’N Play crib, a fitted crib sheet with a safe-sleep message, a sleep sack, a pacifier, educational materials, and a children’s book.
Parents who receive kits also take the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation’s Baby’s Easy Safe Sleep Training Program. Public Health staff follow up after one month on how families have kept the safe-sleep environment.
The Children’s Advocacy and Protection Center of Catawba County recommends:
- Always put babies on their backs to sleep
- Place baby alone in his or her own crib or bassinet
- Use a firm mattress with a tight-fitting sheet
- Remove toys, stuffed animals, pillows, crib bumpers, and other objects from the sleeping area
- Keep face and head uncovered
- Use a wearable sleep sack rather than a loose blanket
- Keep cigarette smoke away from the baby
The American Academy of Pediatrics is cited as saying Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, including SIDS, is the leading cause of death in infants ages 1 to 12 months, and that most of those deaths happen in an unsafe sleep environment, including accidental suffocation or strangulation from soft bedding or a person rolling too close or on top of an infant while co-sleeping.
“New parents may not realize that seemingly innocent actions such as sleeping in bed with their baby or placing a pillow in their newborn’s crib can have heartbreaking consequences,” Public Health Director Jennifer McCracken said. “We hope this program will increase safe sleep awareness and help parents use these simple but vitally important safe sleep practices to prevent infant deaths.”
Promoting safe sleep is a strategy of the Catawba County Child Fatality Task Force, the county said, and this initiative is meant to amplify that work. Care Management information: 828-695-5800.
The April 1 notice does not list a start date for kit distribution beyond the launch announcement or name how many kits had already been delivered.
Official release from Catawba County Government, April 1, 2026. https://www.catawbacountync.gov/news/safe-sleep-kits-education-for-care-management-clients/
