Yesterday, the Period of PURPLE Crying® program was officially launched at the IWK. It is an evidence-based program, which educates parents and caregivers about normal infant crying and the dangers of shaking a baby with the goal to prevent Shaken Baby Syndrom.
There were people.
Front row, left to right: Dr. Ron Barr, Canada Research Chair in Community Child Health Research at University of British Columbia and co-creator of the Period of PURPLE Crying; Jo-Anne Nozick, President, IWK Auxiliary; Mary-Ann Hiltz, Vice President, Strategy and Organizational Performance, IWK Health Centre.
Dr. Barr addressed three components of a program’s success (research, implementation, and community support) and shared a few knitting anecdotes.
Of course, there were knitters.
There were about 400 hats (4600 still needed, just saying).
There were dolls wearing hats.
There were gift working bags…
with purple yarn and patterns inside.
One of the important messages from Dr. Barr was about community support for new parents and knitters’ role in it. Using their networks, knitters spread the word and those little hats serve as reminders and conversation starters to educate the public at large. Knit one or many, it does make a difference when we do it together.
The unofficial message from us: keep those needles clicking. More information about knitting newborn purple hats and the IWK address can be found here.
Keep up this great work! Glad you were able to give out patterns and yarn.
Thanks! Just to clarity, Auxiliary of the IWK sponsors the program at our hospital. This is the link to their page http://www.iwk.nshealth.ca/index.cfm?objectid=C1910099-A70B-B7CC-CA37696DCD8A0ABF
Where can we read what this period of purple crying is all about?
Hi Cheryl, thanks for your interest.
I added a link to the program name, you can just click on it. It is also linked to Dr. Barr’s name, he is a co-founder of the program. If you click on ‘officially launched’, it will will take you to the official press-release by the IWK.
Also, if you go to Project page and click on ‘purple hat’s, you can read the initial post about collecting purple hats that has IWK address and contact info, yarn requirements and a brief description of the project.