Sentara Laboratory Services Promotes Jeans for Babies

On June 29, the staff of Sentara Laboratory Services will sponsor "Blue Jeans for Babies Day" to benefit the March of Dimes.

For $2 per BJFB sticker or $3 for a collectable BJFB pin, staff members at seven Sentara hospital campuses throughout Hampton Roads can enjoy wearing jeans and also help the March of Dimes.

This is a timely example of Sentara leading the way in healthcare.  In Gov. Tim Kaine’s State of the Commonwealth address, he stated: "One of our most glaring health failures is our infant morality rate. Today, Virginia's infant mortality rate is 32nd in the nation...... There is no excuse for a state with one of the highest incomes in the nation to have so many babies die in their first year of life."

In April Gov. Kaine targeted 10 Cities in Virginia for an immediate action plan to address the prematurity crises.  Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Newport News were on the list.
 
Advocacy, mission awareness and education are major steps in helping overcome the problem of babies born too soon.

Laboratory staff at Sentara Norfolk General, Sentara Virginia Beach General, Sentara Leigh, Sentara Bayside and Sentara Princess Anne, Sentara Careplex, Port Warwick II and Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center will be selling labels and badges to their colleagues during the last two weeks of June. 

Sentara Laboratory Services, a division of Sentara Healthcare, is Hampton Roads’ only full-service reference laboratory.  Sentara Laboratory Services employs approximately 600 staff throughout Hampton
Roads, operates a network of conveniently located draw sites and performs more than six million tests each year using the most advanced procedures and state of the art equipment.  For more information about Sentara Laboratory Services, visit http://www.sentara.com/lab.