Birth Day Live! is 6 hours of live births and features on babies, birth and pregnancy in America today. The broadcast, a partnership between Discovery Health Channel and the March of Dimes, will emanate from three hospitals: Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women in San Diego, California; Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland; and hub hospital Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida. Host Jane Clayson, former "CBS Early Show" anchor and mother of a premature son who recently went home from a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), will speak to new moms and families, as well as to Liza Cooper, March of Dimes Director of NICU Family SupportŪ.
Ms. Cooper will discuss the March of Dimes NICU Family SupportŪ program, one of the organization's many ongoing efforts to improve the health of babies. This new program provides information and comfort to families during the NICU hospitalization, during the transition home and in the event of a newborn's death. The program currently is in 24 hospitals nationwide and will be in more than 50 by the end of 2007. Visit marchofdimes.com/NICU for more information.
Also appearing on the program will be the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona, to discuss the rising incidence of premature birth in the U.S. and its consequences.
Premature birth is now the leading killer of newborns. More than 500,000 babies are born too soon each year in the United States, and prematurity has increased by more than 30 percent since 1981.
Check local listings or visit discoveryhealth.com for additional program information.
