Educating Expectant Families at the New Arrivals Baby Fair
The First Annual New Arrivals Baby Fair was held on September 29, 2001, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at North Park Mall in Dallas, Texas. The Fair was sponsored by Lauren Publications, Dallas Child Magazine, MIX 102.9 Radio Station, KERA PBS TV Station and Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.

NBS advocate, Laura Clow, reserved a booth under the name of Tyler For Life Foundation, Inc., the former name of Save Babies Through Screening.  She manned the booth with Robert Grier Ph.D. from the Kimberly H. Courtwright and Joseph W. Summers Institute of Metabolic Disease at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.  Dr. Grier is one of the doctors who run the Supplemental Newborn Screening Laboratory at the institute.

Over 500 newborn screening brochures were printed and handed out at the fair.  Dr. Grier also brought supplemental screening brochures from Baylor.  He also donated ten newborn screening tests which were given away in a drawing.

The response to the display was positive.  Approximately 300 people visited the booth and the majority of booth visitors were expecting new babies. The women who were very close to delivery were given a Baylor Screening Packet to take with them that day.

"It was very rewarding to spread the news of Expanded Newborn Screening to so many people in one day," said Laura Clow, whose son had Maple Syrup Urine Disease.  "People were very interested to hear about the option of this test."

Laura reported that one of the winners the drawing for the free supplemental screening test was especially ecstatic to have won. She had a 15-week-old baby who had tested false positive for Galactosemia on the State required test. They had to re-run the state test. Because of concern, she wanted to have the Expanded Screening performed, but did not know where to have it done. She was very thankful and stated that expanded screening will give her peace of mind.

Dr. Robert Grier shared some statistics. As of the end of January, 2002, there were 16,687 newborns screened in South Dakota. Of these newborns, six cases of MCAD were identified and confirmed. This is an MCAD incidence of 1 in 2,700 for this small population sample, which is a higher rate of occurrence when compared to previously published statistics that give MCAD an incidence rate of 1 in 13,000 to 1 in 20,000. However, different population groups will have different incident rates for any given disorder and this incidence rate in SD will probably change over time. What this shows is that there are affected newborns in any population.

The $350 cost of the booth was discounted to $275 when Laura explained the purpose of Save Babies Through Screening and that it was a non-profit volunteer organization.  Furthermore, Laura and her husband contributed $50 towards the cost of the booth.

A special thank you to Laura Clow and Dr. Bob Grier for donating their time to put the display together and serve as greeters to everyone that visited the booth.

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