Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's office announced a $1 million grant to the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association on Friday for a study on relatively minor injuries in infants that could signal possible child abuse.
The study on "sentinel injuries" will look at minor issues such as bruises and oral injuries that health care providers may overlook as signs that a child is being abused.
"Over 30,000 Ohio children are involved in a substantiated case of child abuse or neglect each year,” DeWine said. “By studying these injuries in children from 0 to 6 months, we hope to detect patterns early in order to help prevent, diagnose, care and treat abused children.”
The goal of the study is to establish a baseline frequency of missed sentinel injuries, develop medical interventions to reduce the number of missed sentinel injuries and measure the impact that medical interventions have on the number of missed sentinel injuries.
The study will include Akron Children's, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Dayton Children's, Nationwide Children's Hospital, ProMedica Toledo Children's, and UH/Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.
"Ohio's children's hospitals have a proven track record of working collaboratively to improve child health in our state - and we each have efforts designed to prevent and treat the abuse of children - yet this will be the first time the hospitals have worked together on this particular issue,” Steve Allen, CEO of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said. “We know we can get results - and save children's lives in the process.”