Women's & Children's Hospital Foundation

We’d like to give a BIG thank you to BIG W who sent a few of their local managers to help out at our Laklinyeri Beach House last Friday morning. They scrubbed, pressure-washed, and repainted almost everything in sight! Did you know Big W is also one of our strongest corporate sponsors? We are so grateful for these truly meaningful relationships with our Corporate Partners, and love finding creative ways to engage on multiple levels! In this case, a few hours and a bit of elbow grease made a huge difference for families with a child with complex care needs or in palliative care. THANK YOU, BIG W! #WCHFoundation #corporatepartnerships #corporatevolunteering #workingbee 

Happy Play Therapy Day! 🎉 Today, we celebrated the amazing work of our Play Therapy Team at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and what a fun-filled day it was! Play Therapy is so much more than just fun and games - it provides emotional support for patients and families, helps children feel safe and provides distraction to minimise stress, fear, and anxiety. Our Play Therapy Team hosted an action-packed day full of creative activities that highlight the magic of play therapy, including: 🧡Playdough: Provides sensory opportunities to engage patients 🧡Badge making: Expresses creativity and a sense of identity 🧡Decorating hospital buddies: Allows patients to express emotions and communicate in alternate ways 🧡Window mural: Builds a sense of community to work towards a common goal 🧡Making keyrings: Involves adolescents in the day Thanks to the amazing Play Therapists for creating such a fun day for patients and families! The Play Therapy Program is supported by the WCH Foundation Arts in Health Program. Learn more here ➡ https://bit.ly/4h0Cqz4 #WCHFoundation #ArtsinHealth #PlayTheraphy

Congratulations to Helen Jurgens for being awarded the 2024 Geoffrey Davidson Gastroenterology Research Development Fellowship! Helen is a Nurse Practitioner at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, who has worked in the Gastroenterology Department since 1999, being selected for her role by Professor Davidson himself. She is currently in the process of becoming a dedicated IBD Nurse Practitioner, and will be using the fellowship funds to support her attendance at the 2025 Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease conference, where she hopes to enhance her knowledge of new and contemporary practice in IBD management. The fellowship was established in honour of the late Professor Davidson, the founding Head of the Gastroenterology Unit at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Professor Davidson was a world-class researcher, being a member of the team which discovered rotavirus, and amongst the first to use hydrogen breath testing for intolerance to sugars such as lactose, fructose and sucrose! Helen shared, “Despite not being part of our Gastroenterology team for several years, Geoff is still spoken of often with much respect and fondness and is greatly missed by those who knew him. He was a wonderful, inspirational, and supportive mentor and leader and a genuinely lovely person. I feel very grateful and privileged to receive this fellowship in his honour.” #WCHFoundation #ResearchStudy

It’s Party Week, celebrating the awesome staff of the Women's and Children's Health Network. This year’s theme is Neon Dreams and so we decided to dress up to show our support for our WCHN colleagues!

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting the Governor-General of Australia, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, for a tour of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and to discuss the contribution our partnership has on the health and wellbeing of children and families. Her Excellency, who has a strong passion for women’s and children’s wellbeing, particularly enjoyed seeing the integration of arts throughout the Hospital as well as hearing of our support programs which assist families experiencing financial hardship due to their child’s hospitalisation. We are honoured Her Excellency made the time during her visit to South Australia to learn about our work amongst other important organisations supporting the health and wellbeing of our community. Women's and Children's Health Network

Did you know that Omega 3 DHA can make preterm infants smarter? We previously funded research exploring the effects of DHA on the neurodevelopment of very preterm infants, who miss out on months of placental supply of this crucial nutrient. In a true #ResearchTranslation story, we are funding the final steps toward applying these findings to clinical practice. 💡 Dr Jacqueline Gould of SAHMRI and her team, with the support of the Bloom Research Program, will undertake research to develop guidelines that will allow adoption of DHA supplementation in very preterm infants in SA and beyond. Learn more here ➡ https://lnkd.in/gqgWvP94 #WCHFoundation #BloomResearchProgram #ResearchImpact

Do you have a Beyond Bank Australia Community Reward savings account? Then we owe you a big THANK YOU 🧡 Beyond Bank Community Reward Account customers who nominated the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation as their associated charity have helped us receive a $4,000 donation from Beyond Bank, which helps us support South Australian families, like the Carters, when they need us most. This is a great example of a community-directed corporate donation. We love to see the many ways that people, companies, and community groups come together to support women, children, and families in SA. If you’re interested in creating a partnership with the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation, let us know! We would love to help. #WCHFoundation #CorporateGiving #SupportingSA #CharityPartner

We’re proud to continue our partnership with the Chronic Pain Service through the Comfort Ability Program, which helps young people manage their pain and improve their quality of life. Recently, we extended our support to develop a new video resource aimed at assisting young people living with chronic pain to better navigate their school experience. This resource is an important step in ensuring that those affected can access the tools and support they need to thrive, both inside and outside the classroom. And we were delighted to see the team nominated for a WCHN Excellence Award for this piece of work. View their nomination video below. Together, we’re making a real difference 🧡 For more information about the Comfort Ability Program visit: https://lnkd.in/gpnVbspm #WCHFoundation #ChronicPainAwareness #ComfortAbilityProgram

Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEMs) are rare, genetically inherited conditions which involve errors in metabolic pathways throughout the body. A large number of people with IEMs experience problems with the processing of protein in the body, and require lifelong treatment with a protein restricted diet. Finding food that is appealing, enjoyable and makes it easy to “stay on diet” can be a challenge. In partnership with parent and author, Sasha Cranwell, and the Nutrition Department of the Women's and Children's Health Network, we have been able to produce a low protein cookbook to be gifted to families caring for a child managing an IEM. Sasha combined her desire to support her daughter’s diagnosis of Phenylketonuria and her love of cooking to create every recipe in the hope that by sharing her experience and recipes it will help others on their low protein journey. Senior Clinical Dietician, Annabel Comerford, pictured here with the new recipe books says, “We are so grateful to the WCH Foundation for helping us realise this dream of equipping IEM families with this guide to low protein cooking which is clinically necessary for their child’s health.”

Craniosynostosis, where the bones of the infant skull fuse prematurely, is a devastating and potentially life-threatening condition. Current treatment involves major, invasive surgery. If this is not performed in a timely manner, the condition can lead to increased cranial pressure, causing developmental delay and blindness. Professor Peter Anderson of Women's and Children's Health Network and his team, with the support of the Bloom Research Program, will investigate a targeted, non-surgical treatment for craniosynostosis based on stem cell technology, to prevent the bones of the infant skull fusing prematurely, reducing the need for invasive surgery. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gWRbzjVw... #WCHFoundation #BloomResearchProgram #ResearchImpact