Pillars of Strength
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 10:30AM
With special guests:
- Gary Sillett
- Michael Bourne
We have an opportunity in today’s show to draw inspiration from the way one father has responded to a tragedy in his family by speaking to Gary Sillett. Gary has established an Australian first, a program to help Dads cope when their newborn baby is in need of intensive medical care and to provide support if their baby loses the fight for life. This new program is called Pillars of Strength.
Later in the show we take listeners into the world of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) in Sydney when we talk to Michael Bourne who is a Neonatal Nurse in the unit. Michael deals on a daily basis with the highs and lows of the families who have newborn children needing intensive care.
Gary’s story
Every year in Australia around 44,000 newborn babies require the help of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and up to 1,000 babies lose their fight for life. In December 2010 one of those babies who lost the fight for life was Gary Sillett’s son Isaac.
At a time when Gary felt the guilt of his powerlessness as a father and was under pressure to get back to work he had to continue to take care of daily chores, attend to the bureaucratic paperwork and become the communication channel to family members. But when he needed support at this traumatic time he found there were no services exclusively available for fathers in this situation.
Gary tells us what he did about this. In less than a year he has established a program to make a difference. He shows us what one man can do and tells us about the sponsorship support he has received leading up to the Inaugural Sydney Olympic Park Business Association Golf Day on 17 February 2012.
Michael Bourne from the Newborn Care Centre at Royal North Shore Hospital
Michael Bourne tells us how the Unit he works in at RNSH cares for babies that start out no bigger than a can of Coke. The nursing staff at RNSH are experienced and skilful in caring for the babies and they also need to be caring for the families of these premature babies.
There are special considerations in dealing with babies born up to 16 weeks prematurely, in particular likely problems with breathing, major organ function and infection. And because there are often setbacks in the treatment, life for the families becomes an emotional roller coaster at a time when they are feeling very vulnerable.
Michael tells us about the care provided by RNSH and why the hospital is fully supporting Pillars of Strength in the essential work being done for fathers in this situation who can feel isolated and unsupported at what may be the most difficult time in their lives.