Each year, approximately 350 babies need care in the neonatal unit at St Helier Hospital, ranging from babies born early at 23 weeks to those who are born on time but need intensive and specialised care. Some of the babies cared for on the unit weigh as little as 500 grams (equivalent to just two blocks of butter), but through a combination of expert compassionate care and first-class equipment, many complications from early birth are avoided.
Chief Executive, Chrisha Alagaratnam, attended the event to personally thank families for their support of World Prematurity Day 2014, as well as for raising funds and providing equipment for the neonatal unit and maternity services within the Trust. She said:
“As a mum, I appreciate how incredibly worrying it must be to have your baby early and to need care in a neonatal unit. During difficult times like that, it is absolutely vital that our staff can provide the very best of care to our very smallest patients and their parents, and to give them the strongest start to life.
“The kind donations we have received throughout the year have contributed towards essential equipment such as vapotherm kits (please explain what this does), phototherapy units (explain) and monitoring equipment, for which I would like to offer my thanks.
“I would also like to thank our fantastic team who work so diligently to take care of babies and their families; your hard work and dedication is a continuous source of pride for the Trust, as well as a comfort to the families you care for.”
Dr Salim Yasim, Paediatric Consultant, said that he was delighted with the turn out to promote World Prematurity Day, and also emphasised the importance of the international campaign to help continue providing the best care possible:
“All of the equipment we use plays an important part in monitoring the babies’ progress and wellbeing.
“With technology constantly changing, it is vital that we keep up-to-date with advances in care to enable us to diagnose and treat babies as soon as possible to avoid complications further down the line.”
To make a donation to the Neonatal Department at St Helier or the Special Care Baby Unit at Epsom, please call 020 8296 4637 for more information.
World Prematurity Day is organised by Bliss, a charity which exists to ensure that all babies born too soon, too small or too sick in the UK have the best possible chance of survival and of reaching their full potential.