105 Purple Knitted Baby Hats Help ‘Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC’
Every September for the past three years, the Dawson Creek & District Auxiliary Society of Local Health Care has been mailing small packages of knitted purple baby hats to the BC Children’s Hospital. These purple baby hats join a collection of over 11,000 purple baby hats gathered from across the province as part of the Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC – CLICK for Babies campaign. This public awareness campaign, managed through the BC Children’s Hospital, focuses on raising awareness about normal increased infant crying and the dangers of reacting in frustration by shaking or harming an infant. The purple baby hats are redistributed by the BC Children’s Hospital in November and December along with PURPLE Crying Program materials to all BC birthing hospitals and community health units.
In 2016, the Dawson Creek Auxiliary sent three purple baby hats to Vancouver. In 2017, six were sent. In 2018, the Auxiliary used Facebook, posters and word-of-mouth to reach out to the local knitting community in hopes of knitting many more purple baby hats. Non-knitters were encouraged to donate purple knitting yarn and wool. Over the summer, a donation box for hats and wool was set up at the Dawson Creek Hospital Gift Shop, where printed copies of knitting patterns were also made available. The result this year was overwhelming, with local knitters donating 105 purple baby hats to the campaign.
The Dawson Creek & District Auxiliary Society of Local Health Care would like to thank all the wonderful local knitters and wool contributors who participated in this successful outreach.
Since the Click for Babies campaign and public education program launched in BC in 2009, there has been a 35 percent reduction in the number of children, under the age of two, admitted to BC hospitals with shaking-related injuries. For more information visit: http://dontshake.ca/click-for-babies/
(Submitted by Judith Chinn, President, Dawson Creek Auxiliary)