Advocates for Change
Sign and Share Petition
Do you know what to do for your baby or child in an emergency? Since 2006, R Baby has worked to improve pediatric emergency care for all of our children across the nation.
If a child does not get the right help, right away, from the right people, they might die or become permanently disabled.
Unfortunately, starting with a call to 9-1-1, our critical EMS systems fail to account for the unique needs of children. Shocking as this may be, many of our nation’s first responders and emergency departments (EDs) are unprepared to care for children. Nearly 30 million emergency department visits are made by children in the U.S. annually, but our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems are designed for adults whose bodies and needs are very different.
Did you know?
- The United States rates a D- in access to emergency medical care for children.
- A critically ill or injured child can die quickly, in just thirty to sixty minutes. To save these children we need first responder teams and all hospitals to be prepared to care for them at all times.
- An emergency department (ED) prepared for children saves more kids. The more prepared the ED, the greater the chances of a child’s survival. But the “average” ED in the US is only 69% ready for kids, and many are far less ready than that.
Science has shown that emergency medical services (EMS) systems designed for adults cannot save the lives of children. Our country must adapt our EMS systems to the unique needs of children. The mandate to adapt our current systems must be required by law on a state-by-state basis.
As children don’t vote, we adults, who know the truth about our current EMS systems failures for children, hereby call on every state legislature to pass and fully implement EMS Systems for Children laws. And we call on the federal government to use its powers to promote the adaptation of EMS systems to serve our children.
Only EMS systems adapted for children can save our kids. Please sign the petition for this change today!
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2021/04/19/ peds.2021-050787 J Pediatr 2018;194:225-32 JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(1):e2250941. doi:10.1001/ jamanetworkopen.2022.50941 JAMA Surg. 2022;157(4):e217419. doi:10.1001/ jamasurg.2021.741
Sign Our Petition!
Demand that your emergency department is prepared for your child.
Send a clear message to your state and national representatives. Sign the petition to support:
- Improved pediatric emergency care across the U.S.
- Increased training for general ER doctors in pediatrics
- Mandatory pediatric supplies and equipment in all emergency departments
- A new, clear definition of a pediatric emergency room for the best specialized care
SIGN AND SHARE PETITION
LEARN MORE
Why We Do It
All ERs are not created equal. Your closest Emergency Room is usually best for extremely time-sensitive cases. Ideally, your closest Pediatric Emergency Room should be the best choice to care for babies and children, because the staff has most likely been trained specifically in pediatrics for a much longer time period than general practitioners. But did you know that there is NO uniform definition or standard in the United States for separate, designated pediatric emergency care units?
Current law provides a vague definition of a pediatric area within the Emergency Department at all hospitals including those that are licensed as “children’s hospitals.” There are different levels of service: one hospital may put up a sign with their existing ER staff and equipment, while another hospital may have 24/7 pediatric emergency physicians who have three additional years of training in infant care, equipment usage and medicinal prescription. We want to change that.