04 Mar Thank you for passing House Bill 157!

Statement by Randy Coe, president, Kosair Charities on HB 157 passing the Senate Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations Committee

I, along with all of the face it® partners, applaud Chairman Shickel and the members of the Senate Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations committee for passing HB 157 today. We are now one step closer to making sure doctors receive a one-time, one-hour training on recognizing signs of physical abuse specific to pediatric abusive head trauma, commonly known as “shaken baby syndrome.”

face it® supports this bill, because it will make a difference in protecting children from abuse and neglect. We applaud the committee for tackling this issue to address these facts:

• In Kentucky within the last five years, over 50 percent of children who died or nearly died from physical abuse were victims of abusive head trauma.
• Over half of children under age four who were treated for serious physical injuries had been seen by a medical professional at some point before the trauma. In these cases, the medical professional documented injuries in the child’s medical charts that should have raised red flags for child abuse. Unfortunately, the medical professionals did not recognize the injuries as abuse-related.
• Several cases already reviewed by the External Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Panel indicate visible injuries that were missed by medical professionals.

We now look to the full Senate to pass HB 157 to help stop the tragedy of child abuse. No doctor wants to miss a sign, and this bill will help make sure that doesn’t happen.

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The face it® Movement is a 10-year initiative led by Kosair Charities; its vision is that by 2023 all children in Jefferson County will be free from abuse and neglect.