Thanks to a recent campaign asking knitters and crocheters to create purple hats to help raise awareness of shaken baby syndrome, Samaritan hospitals have received more than 1,500 handmade hats.  

“Thanks to the generosity of the community we’ll be giving out hats for a long time,” said Debbie Heim, nursing manager of the Center for Women and Families at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. “If people want to continue making hats, we’ll keep handing them out.”  

The original goal of the campaign was to give out a purple hat to every baby born at a Samaritan hospital during the month of November, but the campaign’s wild success means new babies will receive them for months to come.  

The purple hats will serve as a reminder to parents about the Period of PURPLE Crying, an education program for parents that seeks to prevent infant abuse during the normal period of infant development when babies cry more than any other time, sometimes inconsolably. The program is in place at all five Samaritan hospitals.  

“The turnout has been amazing and we are so thankful to all the knitters and crocheters who contributed to the campaign,” said Heim. “Thanks to the involvement of the community, parents will leave the hospital with a reminder that crying is normal.”  

To learn more about the Period of PURPLE Crying Prevention Program, visit www.purplecrying.info.