Projects
We recently found a parent mattress in a poor state where the springs were almost popping through the material. As the Trust had purchased the original beds we felt it was our responsibility to sort this problem. A decision was made to do an emergency purchase of a new mattress and look at replacing the remaining 9 when stock was available. Along with the mattresses we also purchased protectors to cover the life of the mattress.
FINE stands for, Family and Infant Neurodevelopmental Education. FINE is the only programme that gives neonatal professionals of all disciplines opportunities to develop knowledge and skills in steps that can be paced to their career needs, from orientation for beginners, to developing competent practice or leadership. FINE programs assist to bridge the gap between theory and practice with a range of learning opportunities that can be adapted to different settings.
FINE Level 1 is considered a foundational, education program that mixes formal, informal and interactive teaching methods to introduce the scope and evidence behind infant and family centred developmental care, to identify gaps in knowledge and skills and to share ideas and question assumptions about practice.
The Trust supported this education by paying for the team to come from Australia and teach the first level of training to our staff.
The Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand holds an annual congress which rotates evenly between Australian States and Territories and New Zealand. 
The aims of the Annual Congress are to:
- provide an opportunity for members to broaden their perspectives of perinatology;
- stimulate research activities aimed at improving perinatal care
- present scientifically rigorous and valid new information
- debate new information and ideas of relevance to perinatology
This year it was in the new conference centre Christchurch - Te Pae
Reading books, talking about pictures, sharing stories, and singing rhymes and songs help your baby’s development in many ways.
It’s a great time for you to bond with your baby and share time together too.
Doing these activities every day helps your baby get familiar with speech sounds, words, pictures and books. This builds your baby’s early language skills and early literacey skills and helps them go on to read successfully later in life. Reading stories stimulates your baby's imagination and helps them learn about the world and people around them.
Sometimes pregnancy and birth does not always have the outcome we would wish for. Babies die and families are left bereaved with empty arms. The staff encourage families to make memories, keepsakes that they can treasure. This may be in the form of photos, castings or jewellery.
This year the Trust has supported four NICU staff with their Education.
Ongoing education and learning is essential in the delivery of research based care and enhances the Neonatal Service.
After growing his hair for seven years,
a Timaru student from Roncalli College
will be cutting it all off for charity and in memory of his late sibling
.
Marianne Dutkiewicz - Open Water Swimmer & Baby Swim teacher
Neonatal Scientific Meeting
@ Autralian Resuscitation "Spark of Life" Conference
International Convention Centre, Sydney 9 May 2019
Responses from those staff supported to attend
the International COINN Conference Auckland 5th-8th May 2019
Premature Anne - Task trainer for realistic care of an extremely prem baby.
Designed to look and feel like a 750gm 25 week gestation baby.
Staff are excited to use and practice their skills on her.
Style & comfort for parents in NICU
Promoting skin to skin care, breastfeeding and quality time
with their babies.
The Trust believes in the importance of privacy for families so has supported the procurment of privacy screens. 2018
Study scholarship for lactation Exams 2017
The trust is happy to financially support two registered nurses this year to take their exams. In doing this we feel we are supporting the unit in providing care which supports breastfeeding and the baby friendly hospital initiative of which Christchurch Women’s Hospital and the neonatal unit is accredited for.
The Trust is happy to provide a travel scholarship for a neonatal nurse to attend the 2017,13th International KC Certification hosted in Cleveland, Ohio.
find out more about this conference here -KC
Summer Student conducts study at Christchurch Women's Hospital Neonatal Unit
Her findings are to be presented as a poster at PSANZ 2016 (Perinatal Society of Australia, New Zealand) in May
A long term study of premature infants who are now turing 17 years of age
Looking at the late effects prematurity may have on their physical and mental well being. 2016
Study Scholarships
The trust was very pleased to recently support two neonatal nurses with a travel scholarship. 2015
The SimNewB is an interactive simulator, designed by Laerdal with the American Academy of Pediatrics to meet the training requirements of neonatal emergency medicine and resuscitation courses.
Christchurch‟s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has officially opened the first hospital-based pasteurised human milk bank in New Zealand. 2014