Picture caption: Antenatal Services Manager, Lisa Davis (C) with Matron Bernadette Halliday (L) and Dr Tracey Cooper, Head of Midwifery (R)
New technology is set to help parents-to-be in Warrington and their pre-natal teams – by detecting potential problems earlier in pregnancy.
We teamed up with charity Life After Loss to provide a new fetal heart monitor for Warrington General Hospital.
The highly sensitive monitor makes it easier to keep an eye on babies that aren’t moving or growing well at an early stage of pregnancy – allowing doctors and midwives to help parents be more prepared for difficulties ahead.
Gemma Antell, Warrington coordinator for Life After Loss, says: “Losing a baby is always going to be the worst experience of a parent’s life but there are things that can help to make it more bearable. Making sure our local teams have the equipment they need to detect and monitor problems as early as possible is one way to help parents cope.
“The teams at Warrington General are committed to doing everything they can to help parents through what can be impossibly difficult times – and this state-of-the-art equipment is another tool to help them.”
Lisa Davies, Antenatal Services Manager from Warrington Hospital says: “We are extremely grateful and excited by the donation from Life After Loss. This equipment, as an addition to the Antenatal Day Unit hopes to improve the experience of care and also support us to deliver effective, safe care to women with complex pregnancies.”
We donated £10,000 to fund the equipment, as well as more than £800 to fund early loss packs which help bereaved parents make memory boxes for their babies. We’re supporting Life After Loss with a further £10,000 donation this year.
Jonathan Murphy, our CEO, says: “Supporting health causes in Warrington is right at the heart of our community work and it’s been a privilege to help Life After Loss get this equipment funded – helping local families in some of the most difficult times they’ll ever face.”
Gemma began working for Life After Loss after losing her first child when she was just over 12 weeks pregnant. Life After Loss was founded in 2006 to help anyone affected by the loss of a baby, at any stage of pregnancy, or early in life, for any reason.