First Half: Pediatric Death Investigation-
Adele Lewis, MD
Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for Davidson County
Investigation of sudden, unexpected deaths in children calls for a unique approach and requires the cooperation and collaboration of law enforcement, first responders, pediatricians, child protective services, and forensic pathologists. In this session we will discuss the proper procedures for the investigation of a death of a child, including differences between in injury patterns in children and adults with respect to different mechanisms, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation; completing the state-mandated Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation (SUIDI) and Sudden Unexplained Child Death Investigation (SUCDI) Reports; doll re-enactments; mechanisms and classification of sleep-related deaths in infants; patterns of injuries which may be suggestive of abusive injuries to a child; scene documentation and photography, with particular attention to sleep environments and potential hazards in the home; mimics of child abuse injuries; and the plausibility of reported mechanisms of injury in cases of possible inflicted trauma.
Dr. Lewis is the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for Davidson County. She is a graduate of University of Alabama School of Medicine. She completed her fellowship in Anatomic Pathology at Vanderbilt School of Medicine as well as a Fellowship in Forensic Pathology at the Office of the Medical Examiner for the State of Tennessee. Dr lewis holds appointments at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine: Department of Pathology and the National Forensic Academy as well as being Board Certified in Anatomic Pathology and Forensic pathology.
Second Half: Youth Suicide Awareness & Prevention -
Evelyn Hill & Lacy Potts
Jason Foundation
JFI has grown to be one of the nation’s leading non-profits addressing the national health problem of youth suicide. In 2013, the JFI National Network, consisting of offices across the nation, provided one or more of our program / educational services to over 1.8 million individuals and over 2 million EAP clients. JFI’s corporate office is located in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Since 1998, The Jason Foundation has reached more than one million young people, parents, teachers and community members. The Jason Foundation’s goal is to provide outstanding educational materials on youth suicide awareness and prevention. The youth curriculum, “A Promise for Tomorrow”, has been in use since October 1997 and has undergone four major revisions. This program has been presented to over 1,000,000 young people across the country and in several foreign countries without one negative response or related incident being reporting. To ensure that the teaching strategies are based on best practices of instruction and the clinical information is presented in a safe, no-harm manner, JFI has submitted the program to extensive evaluation. The program has been evaluated using ASCD educational standards and by Vanderbilt University. Field tests in several different classrooms in four states to determine that students are reaching the goals and objectives of the program. Ninety-eight percent of the students showed gains in knowledge with the average increase being a twenty-four point gain. Students tested for retention maintained ninety-four percent of the knowledge gain.
For more information on the Jason Foundation visit:
http://jasonfoundation.com/about-us/