Seven Months and 20,000 Visitors Later ...

Deb and I reflect on the enormity of that statement, with a mixture of 
feelings:

... anger, that up to 50,000 more babies died of SIDS in the United 
States alone, since Meg, our 38 day old daughter, became a victim 
of SIDS in October 1989;

... helplessness, as we sat with the young family last night, and the 
night before, because their precious baby became a victim of SIDS 
three night ago;

... amazement, that we were able to get a very basic SIDS Web Page 
started, with just fundamental information;

... tears and gratitude, for the team work, ideas, energy, skill, 
understanding, giving, and sharing of all of you;

... hope for the future, when we no longer need to fear for our most 
precious resource ... our babies.

We started the SIDS Network's SIDS Information Web Site seven 
months ago, on July 4, 1995. Tonight, this site will have been 
visited 20,000 times. With all of us working together, we have seen 
tremendous growth. There have been nearly daily changes made to 
the SIDS Information Site. We have seen this area called many 
things, the most catching being "SIDSnet". This name, as well as 
the name of the SIDS Network, truly symbolizes the relationships 
that have developed, and the teamwork that has resulted in these 
accomplishments:

- several new and existing support networks developed or were 
rejuvenated in various areas around the world;

- an explosion of touching, personal "First Person" accounts by 
people with the courage to share their feelings;

- a growing collection of resources and articles by the experts, those 
in the research fields, working hard to stop SIDS;

- increasingly impact-filled multimedia SIDS information from audio 
clips and graphics;

- a Listserver discussion area for SIDS-related issues that has grown 
to over 50 participants in less than 2 months;

- nearly 400 visitors registered to receive automatic notification 
when the Web Site changes;

- an e-mail mailing list that has grown to over 115;

- the growing list of resources from literature, other Internet sites, 
support groups, and other organizations world wide;

- the recent extension of the SIDS Information Web Site into 
Pregnancy and Infant Loss issues;

- recognition by independent reviewers, placing the SIDS Web Site 
among the top 2,000 sites world wide (there are an estimated 8 
million sites!).

This is just the beginning. Many more opportunities are waiting to 
be discovered, acted upon, and add to the growth of our efforts to 
stop SIDS, raise awareness, and provide support.

Please help us by:

- attending the 1/2 day workshop on marketing SIDS information 
using the Internet at the 4th Annual International SIDS Conference 
in Washington DC this June.

- helping with the plans for a "SIDSnet Meet & Greet" at that 
conference. We need your help and ideas to make this work.

- developing a "pregnancy and infant loss" Listserver. We are seeing 
a growing need for this.

- sending us pictures of SIDS babies. They will be shared at public 
awareness events on our "We Remember With Love" board. We 
would also like to collect more electronic graphics of infants for the 
Web Site.

-translating basic SIDS information into other languages beyond the 
page we now have in Spanish. Translators?

- sending stories, poems, articles, and ideas from you, who are 
willing to share. 

This World Wide Web Site is a vehicle to make information  about 
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, available to the  tens of 
millions of people who use the "information highway". This  site 
will grow and evolve as we progress up the learning  curve together. 
Your patience, understanding, and  contributions to this site will 
make it grow into a true  network of people and information 
dedicated to stopping SIDS,  the number one killer of infants 
between the ages of one  month and one year.

Visit this site again to see what is available.  We encourage honest, 
constructive feedback to make this area  as useful as possible. Please 
e-mail any articles,  suggestions, ideas, and comments to: 
sidsnet1@sids-network.org.

The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Information Web Site 
was produced, and will be maintained by  volunteers of the SIDS 
Network, Inc., an all volunteer, non-profit SIDS full service 
provider. The SIDS Network  headquarters is located in Ledyard, 
Connecticut.

Thanks!

Chuck Mihalko, President
February 6, 1996

SIDS Network
9 Gonch Farm Road
Ledyard, Connecticut 06339
USA

email: sidsnet1@sids-network.org
Web Site: http://sids-network.org
800-560-1454 - voice
860-887-7309 - fax