OSCEOLA COUNTY — Osceola County Emergency Medical Services has become a safe sleep certified agency, a designation paramedics said will help reduce sudden unexpected infant deaths by allowing the agency to provide safe sleep resources to families in Osceola County and surrounding counties.
Kyle Pedeszwik, the infant safe sleep coordinator for Osceola County Emergency Medical Services and a paramedic, said his past experiences in the field motivated him to pursue the certification and expand education and support for families.
“Preventable infant deaths have always been especially tragic to me,” Pedeszwik said. “They are hard for families. They are hard for the responders and any sort of resources that we can provide to help prevent these deaths is worth doing.”
Pedeszwik said Michigan data from 2023 showed 6.1 out of 1,000 births experienced a sudden unexpected death.
He said through his work as a paramedic in Osceola County and surrounding areas there were between four and six cases of unexpected infant deaths last year.
He said financial costs for items such as cribs, Pack ’n Plays and infant sleepwear can be barriers, leading some parents to choose alternatives he said are unsafe.
“We’ll see infants sleeping in bed with parents, which is not safe,” Pedeszwik said. “Just due to the soft mattresses, the loose blankets. And we’ll also see things like, babies sleeping on couches or being placed on cushions, on chairs, to nap.”
Pedeszwik said the program is funded through the Department of Health and Human Services.
He said Osceola County Emergency Medical Services hopes to host classes for community members on infant safe sleep practices, provide demonstrations, encourage families to seek education and offer infant and child CPR education for the home.
Osceola County paramedic Katelynn Swanson said the most important safe sleep steps include avoiding large bedding, stuffed animals and bumper pads and placing babies flat on their backs on a firm surface in a crib.
“The most important tips would be to avoid large bedding, avoid stuffed animals and bumper pads, and laying your baby flat on their back on a firm surface in their crib,” Swanson said.
Swanson said safe sleep education is still needed because advice passed down within families is not always accurate.
“Everybody kind of listens to their grandparents, listens to their parents, calls them at night for information, and they’re not necessarily giving you the right advice,” Swanson said. “They don’t have any bad intent with that at all. But it’s still not the proper way to do things.”