A Word For Our New Executive Director
I am excited and honored to join your organization as the new executive director. I want to thank everyone for your warm welcome. Also, I want to thank Aileen Carroll, Board President for her support and assistance in helping me transition into this position. Aileen has been serving as our volunteer Executive Director for the last two year. Following in Aileen’s shoes will not be easy, but with your input, participation and support, we can be assured that the NISSA has a bright future.
With her guidance and the support of our board of directors and staff, a strategic plan has been put into place and I have been charged with the duty to ensure its success. NISSA will continue to partner with and provide cribs for our current partners and will be on the search for more partners on the western side of Washington. We will also continue reaching out with hopes to connect to families who suffered the death of their child due to SIDS and other sleep related accidents. We plan to work tirelessly to bring training to our Washington State hospitals and encourage them to become certified via Cribs for Kids National Hospital Certification Program. Certified hospitals are mandated to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics Safe Sleep Guidelines, model safe sleep and educate each family on how to keep their baby safe during sleep. We need their help to begin to lower our infant deaths due to sleep related deaths throughout Washington. We also know home visiting agencies such as Nurse Family Partnership are very impactful when it comes to getting the safe sleep message into the community. Our plan is to increase our home-visiting partners in our high-risk counties. Most importantly, we pledge to be more active on our social media with posts about safe infant sleep, research updates and grief support.
Sudden Unexpected Infant Death kills more kids in the US than opioids, guns, and suicide combined. These deaths MUST stop, and it is our mission and duty to educated and bring awareness to the number one cause of infant death. I am honored to be chosen to lead NISSA in doing just this along with supporting families who have suffered the ultimate loss. Thank you for believing in our life-saving mission for the last 58 years!
Please do not hesitate to contact me as I would love to hear from you.
Liz Montgomery, Executive Director
