UM Shore Regional Health and Talbot County Health Department Partner to Offer Community Education Courses

EASTON, Md. (August 29, 2025) - University of Maryland Shore Regional Health’s (UM SRH) Women’s and Children’s Services Department offers several community education courses led by nursing team members. UM SRH is a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System.
When the Talbot County Health Department (TCHD) approached Birthing Center team members this past spring with an interest in helping promote child safety education, Stephanie King, Clinical Educator for Women and Children’s Health at UM SRH, saw a perfect opportunity to collaborate in the Safe Sitter® program.

“Making the Safe Sitter course financially accessible is a matter of equity and safety, which is a longstanding priority of the Talbot County Health Department,” said Rachael Crawford, Maternal Child Health Registered Nurse at TCHD. “All children deserve to be cared for by someone who is trained to respond in an emergency, regardless of their family’s income or zip code. By funding scholarships, we’re addressing health disparities that often leave underserved communities without access to vital training. When more teens are empowered with knowledge about first aid, CPR and safe childcare practices, entire neighborhoods become safer. This investment ensures that every family, no matter their circumstances, has the opportunity to secure responsible, prepared caregivers for their children.”
The Safe Sitter program is an evidence-based national curriculum designed to prepare youth ages 11 to 13 to stay home alone safely, care for siblings and begin babysitting. The course covers essential topics such as personal safety, basic first aid, managing sibling behavior, age-appropriate activities and CPR/choking rescue techniques. Sessions are led by specially trained nurses and offer engaging, hands-on experience for all participants. A grant offered this past spring by TCHD enabled the course to be offered to 50 students free of charge.

“At UM SRH, we are deeply grateful for this meaningful partnership and look forward to continuing our shared mission of promoting safety and wellness for the youth in our community,” King said. 
UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown is offering a Safe Sitter course on Saturday, November 8, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a grandparent’s course, tailored to new grandparents or those grandparents who take on a caregiving role in their grandchildren’s lives, on Tuesday, October 7, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Both courses are $50 and include an instructional kit. Registration is required and is encouraged early as courses fill quickly. To register, email Gladys Peeples at Gladys.Peeples@umm.edu.

About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health 
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.

About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.