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 Programs & Services

The primary focus areas for First Candle are:

• Research:  Our national research program funds projects that meet the highest standards of scientific merit and medical significance in furthering the understanding of SIDS and other causes of infant death.  Over the past two decades, we have provided over $4 million in funding to 40 research projects at 25 upstanding medical institutions

• Education and Awareness:  We supply comprehensive, quality assured information on infant health and survival to expectant parents, grandparents and the general public through a toll-free information hotline and our website.  We also provide technical assistance and risk reduction education and training to professional and community organizations interested in infant health.  Last year alone, we distributed more than 200,000 brochures and fact sheets. 

• Advocacy:  First Candle helps guide national and local political action to ensure that SIDS, stillbirth and other infant health programs receive adequate funding.  First Candle/SIDS Alliance has ensured that Federal funding for SIDS research has increased from $500,000 in 1985 to over $17 million in 2002. 

• Family Support:  First Candle provides bereavement services to help families through the difficult time after the loss of a child.  Through the distribution of grief packets, peer support training, conferences, referrals to local support services and our web site, we help families connect and share experiences.  Bilingual crisis counselors are also available 24-hours per day, seven days per week through our toll-free crisis hotline.  In just one year, First Candle reached more than 13,000 people devastated by the tragedy of infant death. 
  
  

• National SIDS and Infant Death Program Support Center (PSC):  The PSC is managed by First Candle as part of a cooperative agreement with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration.  Since 1998, the PSC has been working to assist State and local programs and community service providers to best meet the needs of families and others who are - or have the potential to be - impacted by an infant death.