Parents' baby loss charity vows to help more families

Friday 27 December 2019

A charity founded by parents mourning the devastating full-term stillbirth of their second son has vowed to help more families next year.

Jo and Paul Nash founded Philip’s Footprints in 2008 by providing baby memory boxes to families who suffered the heartbreak of the loss of a child.

The charity now provides approximatively 15 memory boxes per year to bereaved parents in the island while working hard to promote safer pregnancies and improve outcomes for the 1,000 babies born every year.

Jo Nash wrote about the charity's highlights in 2019, touching upon what goals the team wishes to reach next year...

Pictured: Jo and Paul Nash founded the charity in 2008.

"The Trustees at Philip’s Footprints truly understand the pain of losing a baby and how very important making memories is.

This is also why we invest in pregnancy, our “Safer Pregnancy Projects”, funding training, antenatal equipment and information on safer pregnancies for pregnant women to reduce the rate of stillbirths, premature births and complications at birth; improving outcomes for Jersey babies.

The charity funded six community midwife homebirth bags as part of UK charity Baby Lifeline’s trial.

Pictured: TV stars Linda Bassett and Leonie Elliott from Call the Midwife present the homebirth bags. (Baby Lifeline)

Following feedback from their ‘Childbirth Emergencies in the Community’ course, Baby Lifeline assembled an expert working group to develop a ‘gold standard’ for equipment.

The rucksack style bag was designed to optimise safety, compartmentalised and colour coded to make it easier to identify equipment quickly. Including everything from scissors and towels to emergency equipment, feedback has been fantastic.

Since 2015 Philip’s Footprints has committed to funding 2 training courses for Maternity staff, which are brought to Jersey and now cost £10,000 annually. We access leading experts through Baby Lifeline Training, an accredited, nationally recognised training provider with a proven track record of delivering cutting edge courses.

Pictured: Fort Regent was lit up in pink and blue for Baby Loss Awareness Week. (BAM Perspectives)

11 years ago I could not have imagined any good could come from our devastating loss of Philip, yet to be funding training and antenatal equipment that will help save little lives is absolutely as good as it gets.

At the start of Baby Loss Awareness Week, in October, as well as lighting the Fort Regent dome in pink and blue, the charity invited SANDS, the UK stillbirth charity to Jersey, talking about how to offer sensitive care to newly bereaved parents.

This was partly funded by our 10km Walk in 2018 and demand was high, seeing a wide range of professionals attend from Maternity, the Antenatal Clinic, Robin Ward, Rayner Ward and the Mortuary, paramedics, health visitors and paediatric palliative care nurses from Family Nursing and the Children’s Service at Jersey Hospice.

We are always looking to increase items available to bereaved parents and facilitated a training session to enable staff from different wards and charities to take 3D casts of hands and feet, creating a beautifully detailed and tangible memory, which the charity pays for.

Pictured: Every year, the charity organises a candlelit remembrance service.

Finishing the year with our annual candlelit remembrance service a few weeks ago, this is open to anyone affected by the loss of a baby or child, no matter what the age or gestation or how long ago.

One of our supporters recently said ‘You may be small charity with a small footprint but you make a massive difference to those families who need you’.

We are delighted to be funding some antenatal equipment in the next month that ties in with the latest recommendations and our wish for 2020 is to offer support to more families where needed, as we understand how much of a comfort it can be, and to keep improving outcomes for babies."