Community Action

This vital program offers compassionate care and comprehensive support for those facing addiction during pregnancy. We provide access to treatment, counseling, and a network of support to help you navigate this challenging time, ensuring the best start for your child.

BASC is a coalition of healthcare providers, lactation consultants, and community members dedicated to promoting and supporting breastfeeding. We offer educational workshops, direct lactation support, and advocate for breastfeeding-friendly workplace policies.

This initiative recognizes and supports businesses and organizations that create welcoming environments for breastfeeding. Look for our “Breastfeeding Welcome Here” decal at local establishments, signaling a commitment to supporting breastfeeding mothers.

If your business or organization is interested in becoming part of the “Breastfeeding Friendly Sarasota” Project, click here to apply!

In partnership with the Junior League of Sarasota, this program offers nutrition education and practical cooking demonstrations for new mothers. Participants receive a slow cooker and ingredients to prepare healthy meals, along with assistance in obtaining breast pumps and breastfeeding supplies.

From the moment they are born, babies count on their parents and other caregivers to keep them safe. Yet healthy babies suffocate while sleeping unsafely every year in Sarasota County. It only takes one time for a baby to sleep in an unsafe place or position to be deadly. Babies need to be protected from suffocation when they are laid down to sleep – every night, every nap, and every time

That’s why the Healthy Start Coalition, Sarasota County Health Department, and a group of concerned child safety champions launched the Sleep Baby Safely campaign. It is part of a larger Prevent Needless Deaths regional campaign that addresses the leading causes of death for children under age six.

In 2014, the original Sarasota Safe Sleep Initiative started as a prevention and education effort to address unsafe sleep deaths. This initiative included providing Safe Sleep Kits and education to parents who did not have a safe sleep surface for their babies. The kits included a pack-n-play, crib sheet with safe sleep message, Halo sleep sack, pacifiers and educational materials. Since that project started 549 kits have been distributed.

Sleep Baby Safely is an expansion of the original initiative thatfeatures local facts, direct messages, and easy-to-remember tips for parents, caregivers, and everyone caring for babies. Our goal is to engage all touch points, from prenatal through baby’s first birthday, and to make safe sleep as widely accepted and practiced as car seats for infants.

We invite you to join our efforts to promote safe sleep and protect babies from suffocation. Together, let’s give every baby the opportunity to celebrate his or her first birthday!

Click here to learn how to protect your baby with the Sleep Safety Checklist.