Over the past five years, we have raised more than $500,000 that has been used to award grants for SIDS research and to develop partnerships to support organizations that help raise awareness of and educate about SIDS.

More recently, we have developed the This Side Up campaign to educate parents that the safest way for their babies to sleep is on their back. As part of this campaign, we have distributed about 100,000 onesies that read “This Side Up” on the front and offer other safe-sleeping tips on the back. We’re currently partnering with 14 hospitals in Virginia and Tennessee to distribute our onesies, and we’ve partnered with Ukrop’s, Ukrop’s Dress Express, Pampers and Gov. Kaine’s Smart Beginnings initiative to distribute onesies through the New Parent Tool Kits in Central Virginia.

This Side Up Campaign Timeline

• June 11, 2002 – Hayes Hitzeman, the son of Kyra Oliver, dies of SIDS at the age of 4½ months.

• June 15, 2002 – Kyra Oliver starts The Hayes Foundation to award grants for SIDS research, support services and public awareness programs.

• Spring 2005 – Hayes Foundation eclipses $100,000 raised for SIDS research.

• Summer 2005 – Hayes Foundation begins planning a SIDS awareness campaign.

• March 29, 2006 – Hayes Foundation launches This Side Up campaign in Richmond, Va., with hospital partners VCU Health System and CJW Medical Center. Also partners with Virginia Hospital Laundry, Inc., to distribute This Side Up onesies (English and Spanish) to five other Virginia hospitals.

• April 2006 – Richmond Healthy Start Initiative requests This Side Up onesies.

• November 2006 – Kyra Oliver and This Side Up campaign are featured in a story about SIDS in U.S. News & World Report. This Side Up campaign launches in Tennessee at Livingston Regional Hospital. This Side Up campaign announces partnership with Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc., Ukrop’s Dress Express, Pampers and Smart Beginnings ­– an initiative launched by Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine – to distribute onesies to newborns in Central Virginia.

• December 2006 – Bon Secours Richmond partners with This Side Up campaign in its three area hospitals with birthing centers. Cookeville Regional Medical Center (Tenn.) joins campaign.

• April 2007 – Distribution of 15,000 This Side Up onesies begins through partnership with Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc., Ukrop’s Dress Express, Pampers and Gov. Kaine’s Smart Beginnings initiative.

• July 2007 – Distribution of This Side Up onesies approaches 50,000.

• November 2007 – Oliver Creative, Kyra Oliver’s web design firm, awarded national Stevie Award for Community Involvement Program of the Year.

• March 2008 – This Side Up campaign featured in Parents magazine.

• July 2008 – This Side Up campaign expands to Roanoke and Fredericksburg, Va., through partnership with Smart Beginnings.  

• October 2008 – Kyra Oliver opinion piece in Richmond Times-Dispatch; Hayes Foundation Blog starts.

• January 2009 – This Side Up campaign partners with The Raise Foundation to distribute onesies in Orange County, Calif. (launch in April).

• February 2009 – This Side Up campaign partners with nonprofit in Florida to distribute 15,000 onesies – and potentially up to 50,000 onesies (announcement in June)

• April 30, 2009 – This Side Up campaign launches in Orange County, Calif.

• June 12, 2009 – This Side Up campaign launches in Orlando, with help from Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Matt Bryant and his wife Melissa, whose son Tryson died of SIDS in 2008.

• August, 2009 – Kyra Oliver and This Side Up campaign featured in Woman’s World magazine.

• October, 2009 – Kyra Oliver speaks to Healthy Start Coalition in Florida.

• November, 2009 – Hillsborough Healthy Start partners with This Side Up campaign.

• January, 2010 – This Side Up campaign discussing partnership with a large super market chain to offer onesies to its “Baby Club” members in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina.    

• March 2010  - Tennessee Hospitals embrace long term This Side Up Campaign

• March 2010 -  Loveland Ohio Women’s clinic orders onesies to help educate their patients.

• May 2010 – Surveys distributed to multiple healthcare organizations to collect statistical data about SIDS.

• June 2010 – Chipola Healthy Start partners with This Side Up campaign.

• June 2010 – Childrens Services Council in Boynton Beach, Florida partners with This Side Up campaign.

Participating Hospitals (as of January 2008)

VCU Health System, Richmond, Va.	Richmond, Virginia
CJW Medical Center, Richmond, Va.	Richmond, Virginia
St. Mary’s Hospital, Richmond, Va.	Richmond, Virginia
Memorial Regional Medical Center, Mechanicsville, Va.	Mechanicsville, Virginia
St. Francis Medical Center, Midlothian, Va.	Midlothian, Virginia
Children’s Hospital, Richmond, Va.	Richmond, Virginia
Lynchburg General Hospital, Lynchburg, Va.	Lynchburg, Virginia
Virginia Baptist Hospital, Lynchburg, Va.	Lynchburg, Virginia
John Randolph Medical Center, Hopewell, Va.	Hopewell, Virginia
Southside Community Hospital, Farmville, Va.	Farmville, Virginia
Livingston Regional Hospital, Livingston, Tenn.	Livingston, Tennessee
Cookeville Regional Medical Center, Cookeville, Tenn.	Cookeville, Tennessee
Fauquier Hospital, Fauquier, Va.	Fauquier, Virginia
Culpeper Regional Hospital, Culpeper, Va.	Culpeper, Virginia
Southside Regional Medical Center, Petersburg, Va.	Petersburg, Virginia
Mary Washington Hospital, Fredericksburg, Va.	Fredericksburg, Virginia
VCU Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, Va.	Richmond, Virginia

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Disclaimer: The Hayes Foundation is a part of the Hayes Hitzeman Foundation. All information contained in the Hayes Foundation (HF) Web Site is intended for informational purposes only.
HF does not endorse any specific treatment or strategies. HF strongly recommends the consultation of a physician to assess individual conditions and needs.