The Early Birth Association

“If it was good enough for big London Hospitals then it was good enough for the TMBU…..The sky is blue and the sun is always shining in our new look parent sitting room!” Philp Amess, Neonatal Consultant TMBU. 💛☀️

We are so excited to share with you news of a big project on the Trevor Mann Baby Unit that really improves the parents sitting area. We are honoured to have been asked by unit staff to fund two LED panels that gave the effect of a view through a window. These panels give the feeling of opening and brightening up the parents space on the unit, and we hope will help give families a boost.

Philip Amess, Neonatal Consultant from TMBU, tell us why these panels were so needed and the difference they will help to make:

“We have always struggled to provide perfect facilities for parents on the TMBU but it is not from want of trying! We cannot readily change the spaces we have for families but the EBA have always been very active with initiatives to improve parent bedrooms, the sitting room and expressing facilities. Of course we now have a beautiful quiet room down to efforts from the EBA.

The sitting room is a difficult one. Space is restricted and there is no outside window. It can feel a bit depressing and probably not the greatest place to be if you are tired and have the worries of a sick baby. We looked into opening up a wall to allow natural light to come in but this would have meant losing the privacy of our expressing room. Claire Morfoot had a great idea before she left. She came across a company that provided LED panels that gave the effect of a view through a window. There were some amazing examples of how hospital spaces could be improved. We thought if it was good enough for big London Hospitals then it was good enough for the TMBU. So two panels have been put in place. There is a sky scene for the ceiling and specially made Brighton pier view for the wall. This has all been down to the generosity of the EBA. Thank you.

I have to admit COVID has really affected the way we have been able to accommodate parents and make families welcome. In particular the parent sitting room has been closed but we are hoping things will change soon. We would love to open up and show off our new bright and light LED panels. The sky is blue and the sun is always shining in our new look parent sitting room! We hope the panels will give a boost to our families and represent a return from COVID restrictions to more positive times ahead.”

After a successful pilot project, The EBA is very happy to announce that we are now fully funding The Wishing Well Music for Health programme for musicians to play live music within the special care and high dependency nurseries at TMBU and at PRH. The music is played to lead into quiet time offering an opportunity for parents and babies to bond and benefit from the therapeutic sound. The musicians aim to create a softer clinical environment that supports well-being of both the babies and the parents/carers on the units. Jo and Bela are the musicians who visit the units regularly.

Jo has told us, “The feedback has been really positive from parents – we continue to be very mindful about respecting privacy and space. In some visits we are playing for the unit as a whole and in others, we are interacting directly with families and singing with them – we are very much guided by how each unit feels on each visit and work accordingly. We move between instrumental music, songs and improvisation so that there is a good range of music for people to listen to.  Amidst lots of general thanks and smiles, a few comments that we have collected include;

‘It’s like he’s having his own private recital!’ – from a Mum who came into the unit to find us crouched down playing Brahms Lullaby to her baby, on cello and accordion.

‘You sounded so amazing in there – beautiful voices. It made me think about how that was the first time my son has ever heard live music – thank you so much. You should come every day’ – from a Dad we met in the lift on the way down from TMBU

‘You can see he is listening to you – thank you!’ – From a Mum at TMBU who then filmed us playing music to her son so that her husband could hear us too..

The staff have made us feel incredibly welcome and we have had lots of comments from them on much the music has helped them to feel less stressed.”

Rachel, one of the Neonatal Nurses from TMBU, also gave us this wonderful feedback on having Wishing Well visit the unit when she’s working,

“I loved it when Wishing Well came into Nursery Two. As a nurse on a busy neonatal unit it is amazing to see the impact that the Wishing Well ladies have on our unit. Instead of machines beeping and talking the nurseries are filled with calming, gentle and soothing music. You can instantly see the babies benefitting. They appear calmer and seem to sleep better. You can see parents swaying or gently singing in time to the music. You even see staff joining in as they work! The ladies create a really lovely, peaceful environment which everybody benefits from. Thank you so much!”

To find out more about Wishing Well please have a look on their website http://wishingwellmusic.org.uk

All of us at The EBA would like to thank all of our fundraisers and people who make donations as it’s so amazing to be able to offer funding for such a unique and innovative project on the neonatal units that is clearly making such a positive difference.

We have been busy continuing to delivering food shopping to both units.💛 Thanks to your fundraising we can continue to do this for parents. These essential food items and treats really do make such a difference to keeping both energy levels and morale up on the Units.