Share your Tiny Sparks story

Your story could make all the difference

Every family who is supported by Tiny Sparks has a story. The middle-of-the-night worry, the first proper cuddle, the day you finally walked out of the hospital doors with your baby in your arms. Those moments matter, and so does what happened around them. We are building our evidence base to support future grant applications and impact reports, and the most powerful thing we can share is you.

Numbers tell part of the story. What really lands is a parent describing what a program meant to them, and what it meant for their child. Here's how it works. Share a little of your journey, whether that was a NICU or SCN admission, a high-risk pregnancy, or the road home. Then tell us about one of our programs you used and the difference it made. What did it change for you? What did it make possible for your little one? That's the part that helps us show funders why this work needs to keep going. To get you thinking, here are some of the ways families connect with us:

• NICU and Bedrest Care Packages, for those first days on the unit or on hospital bedrest

• Parent Circle, our online coffee and connection sessions

• Baby and Toddler Playgroup, in person supported by Western Kids Health

• Fuel vouchers, easing the cost of getting to and from hospital for follow-up

• Special occasion gifts, marking the moments that deserve celebrating

Perhaps it was a care package that arrived on a day you needed it most. Perhaps Parent Circle became the one hour a week you felt understood. Whatever it was, we would love to hear it. We would love a photo or two to go with your words, so please pop them in when you submit, along with your consent for us to share your story and images in our grant applications, impact reports and promotional materials. As a small thank you for your time, we have some special gifts to pop in the mail.

Ready to share?

Every Week Counts - National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative

Co-founder Amber was in Melbourne this week to attend the first Expert Panel meeting of the National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative. Bringing together clinicians, researchers and consumers from all over Australia the group has a common goal. To lower the rate of preterm birth nationally to ensure better outcomes for children and families.

Professor John Newnham AM who is Chair of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance together with Amber set the scene for the day. The impact preterm birth has on families, the developmental impact on the child, the economic cost of preterm birth not just in the Neonatal period but throughout childhood, what can be done and how we are going to work together to create change.

The Alliance has recently launched a new Facebook page and Twitter account and would appreciate you following along. You can find them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/PretermAlliance/ their Twitter handle is @PretermAlliance

More about the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance ~ “The Every Week Counts: National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative is a two-year initiative aiming to safely lower the rate of preterm and early term birth within participating maternity units from across Australia and leave an enduring culture of better practice.

The joint collaboration between the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance, Women’s Healthcare Australasia (WHA), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and Safer Care Victoria, will use methods that have been successfully employed by hospitals around the globe for over 25 years.

Chair of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance, Professor John Newnham AM, pointed to the Collaborative as being a truly national force aiming to strategically lower the rate of preterm birth.

“The National Collaborative aims to safely reduce preterm and early term birth across Australia by 20% through supporting hospitals in the adoption of evidence-based changes in clinical care,” Professor Newnham said.

“The evidence-based changes were first developed in 2014 by the Alliance, and have since been successful in reducing rates of preterm birth in Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory.

“Australia is now the world’s first to show that the rate of preterm birth can be safely reduced at a population level.”

WHA Chief Executive Officer, Dr Barbara Vernon, said that more than 30 hospitals across Australia would be involved in the National Collaborative.

“Australia has pockets of excellence for safely reducing early birth, however wide scale adoption across all health services has yet to occur,” Dr Vernon said.

“This model is designed to do just this and help organisations close the gap between what we know, what we do, and ultimately, prevent preterm birth and it’s far reaching impacts.”

During the Collaborative, participating hospital teams will be supported to accelerate their learning and develop reliable systems to ensure all women are offered the care and public health information that is known to reduce early birth. Teams will also be able to share their learnings with each other across Australia.”