World Prematurity Day Community Picnic

With World Prematurity Day (17 November) falling on a Sunday this year we are super excited to once again be having a Community Picnic to celebrate!

We welcome everyone to join us from 10 am to 1pm at Holyrood Pavilion and Park, Cambridge Street, West Leederville. We are partnering with The Kids for this event so there will be opportunities to hear the latest research impacting people born prematurely, we will also have face painting, a petting zoo and other family friendly activities. BYO picnic, suncream and picnic blanket.

This is a FREE community event however registration is encouraged. Those who register will go in the running for some amazing door prizes. To win you will need to be present when the door prize is drawn.

Every Week Counts Showcase Canberra

Recently Amber travelled to Parliament House, Canberra for the Every Week Counts Showcase. She was honoured to be the opening speaker of the event to discuss The Power of Consumers in the Collaborative. Amber has been a member of the Consumer Advisory Group since it’s inception and has been working with the WA groups for many years. More than 300 people attended this event from 65 hospitals all over Australia.

The Collaboratives initiatives for safely lowering the rates of earlyterm and preterm birth can be found here. So far participating hospitals have seen a marked improvement in their rates of earlyterm and preterm birth but there is still a lot of work to do! We are hopeful that future funding will enable more hospitals to participate in the program in the future.

Follow Up Guidelines for Comment

We’ve been working with a big team of people from all over Australia to write a new Guideline for Follow-up Care for Young Children Born Very Preterm. We know they are at increased risk of life long challenges and we also know that early intervention is critical. Unfortunately there has been no uniform approach to follow-up programs around the country. This new Guideline hopes to change that.

The Guideline is now in Draft phase and open for public comment. We welcome all people born prematurely, caregivers, clinicians, allied health professionals and other interested parties to reach the Guideline and provide feedback. More information can be found here:

Preterm Lung Health Consensus Workshop

Would you like to take part in the final stages of establishing the community’s Top 10 research priorities for the lung health of people born prematurely?

The Children’s Lung Health Team at Telethon Kids Institute invite you to take part in their Consensus Workshop on 3 December at Telethon Kids Institute, Perth Children’s Hospital. At the worskhop you will be involved in selecting and ranking the Top 10 research questions/themes that were identified in the Preterm Lung Health Research Prioritisation Survey.

If you were born prematurely, care for someone born prematurely, are a family member of someone born prematurely, or are a health professional with an interest in the lung health of people born prematurely, we encourage you to be involved.

Simply register your interest in attending here:

https://curtin.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6A3NthV30CCcpRc?fbclid=IwAR0mOgRQ2-Voq-Tx1jkSpYKAiC95EDLgTks4r8snFaVC5PwdrCS-NE9c0Fs

Refreshments will be provided, and travel expenses will be covered.

Thank you for considering this important opportunity.

Neonatal November 2022

With 15 million babies born early all around the world each year, prematurity is a critical issue! Every day in WA we experience 12 or more admissions to Neonatal Units. Partnering with organisations all over the world we aim to light as many buildings and landmarks purple as possible to help shine a light on this critical issue. We invite you to light a candle or shine your own purple light to join the global wave at 7pm on November 17. Since 2013 we have been coordinating lighting in Western Australia and the community support we have received has grown and grown.  We are delighted to have support from the following venues and landmarks this year:

  • Albany Town Square

  • Alison Hartman Gardens, Albany

  • Perth Children’s Hospital ‘Fizz’

  • The Kids’ Bridge, PCH

  • Matagarup Bridge

  • The Sky Ribbon

  • Mount Street Bridge

  • Fremantle Prison Gatehouse

  • Perth Concert Hall

  • The Bell Tower

  • ECU Joondalup

  • Mandurah Bridge

  • Council House Perth *from 10:30pm

  • Yagan Square and Water Fountain

  • Elizabeth Quay

  • King Edward Memorial Hospital entry

  • Trafalgar Bridge, East Perth *from 10:30pm

  • Eastern Goldfields Community Centre, Kalgoorlie

  • William Grundt Memorial Library, Kalgoorlie

  • QV1 Tower

  • Busselton Civic Centre *unable to change lighting will be running an LED banner with special message

  • Brockman Street, Manjimup

  • Rockingham Beach Foreshore

  • Graham Farmer Freeway Tunnel entrance

  • Joondalup Drive Bridge

We would love you to get out and about to enjoy the purple lighting.  Huge thanks to everyone on the list above.  Please let them know what it means to you to see them light it up purple!

Some members, volunteers are supporters will be walking across Matagarup Bridge as the sun sets over Perth to take in the purple lighting. You are welcome to join us, meeting at the playground on Burswood side of the bridge at 6:30pm.

Don’t forget to tag us when sharing to your social media @tinysparkswa #worldprematurityday #neonatalnovember

**Please note this list is subject to change.