Newsmakers 2017: Dr. Alan Barnette

Dr. Alan Barnette is trying to eliminate infant death due to unsafe sleep conditions, through a project called Bootheel Babies and Families.

Barnette, a neonatologist in Saint Francis Medical Center's Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU, says the project aims to educate parents in the Missouri Bootheel's six counties on how to safely co-sleep with their children, and provides a "boxinette," a box designed to aid safe co-sleeping.

"I don't think you can be in my field and not be impacted by the issues surrounding infant death," Barnette says. "When someone has a baby in the NICU, even if they go home healthy, there's a profound impact on them and their family." The infant's health may be affected, and there's a financial aspect as well, Barnette says.

"Infant mortality is like the canary in the coal mine -- when you have problems with access to care or poverty or general health of the mothers, infant mortality pops up as one issue easy to spot," Barnette says.

Barnette says since the issue is a complex one with many causes, no one has completely figured it out, but by getting the community involved, he hopes the project can begin to make a difference.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Dr. Alan Barnette

"I think every parent at one time or another sleeps with their child, and while most don't have deaths, clearly the issue increases the odds," he says. "Where rates are so high, this is something we know we can do to reduce those numbers."