April 28, 2000
Francais

Family Services and Housing Minister Tim Sale, of the Healthy Child Cabinet Committee, has announced the provincewide distribution of "It Only Takes a Moment," a 13-minute informational video about the irreversible damage caused by shaken baby syndrome.

"This video shows the tragic consequences of a momentary thoughtless act, and its life-long impact on a baby," said Sale. "This form of abuse is entirely preventable if people in care of these precious lives have the right information, and we believe this to-the-point video will help."

The video includes an interview with a father charged with the death of his infant daughter and comments from a physician, an early childhood educator and the parent of a nine-year-old suffering from shaken baby syndrome. As well, the video suggests methods of coping with the stress of caring for an infant.

Approximately 1,500 copies of the video will be distributed provincewide through schools, family resource centres, health clinics, law enforcement agencies, correctional facilities and other organizations. The video was produced by the province’s Healthy Child Initiative in partnership with the Child Protection Centre of the Children’s Hospital.

The Healthy Child Initiative was announced in March as part of the Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet. Healthy Child will focus on initiatives such as parent-child centres, prenatal and early childhood nutrition programs, nurses in schools, adolescent pregnancy prevention, and fetal alcohol syndrome/fetal alcohol effect prevention.

The cabinet committee, led by Sale, includes Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister Eric Robinson, Health Minister Dave Chomiak, Education and Training Minister Drew Caldwell and Attorney General Gord Mackintosh.

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Copies of the video for organizations are available from:

The Healthy Child Initiative

Telephone: (204) 945-2266

Fax: (204) 948-2585

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