Our maternity teams have been working alongside local organisation Diff-ability to create support packs to help families whose babies are born with down syndrome.
The support packs have been created by local woman, Cristina Bowman, founder of Diff-ability after her experience as a mother of a baby with down syndrome.
Rachel Fulton, Matron for maternity at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust has been part of the project, she said:
“We are so excited to be part of the launch of these packs. Cristina and the team have worked so hard on developing the packs which will make such a positive difference to families who have baby with down syndrome. So much thought and consideration has been put into producing these suitcases and we are hopeful that they will really make a difference to our families going forwards”.
The welcome packs are mini suitcases filled with useful literature, emotion cards, stories and advice. The aim of these packs is to support families and assure them that they are not alone and that the emotions and feelings they are experiencing are a normal part of the journey they are embarking on.
Cristina said:
“I decided to create these packs because of my son Max’s Trisomy 21 diagnosis came as a shock to me, I knew little about the condition, much of what I thought I knew about Down’s syndrome was misinformation and based on outdated stereotypes. The midwives were wonderful, my family supported me, but still I felt scared and alone. There was no signposting, I was afraid to google and rightly so. A year later, after speaking to other mums who said they too had the same feelings, the idea of a welcome pack was born.”
You can find more information and support about down syndrome at: https://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/
More information on Diff-ability can be found at: https://www.diffability.co.uk/
Our maternity teams have been working alongside local organisation Diff-ability to create support packs to help families whose babies are born with down syndrome.
The support packs have been created by local woman, Cristina Bowman, founder of Diff-ability after her experience as a mother of a baby with down syndrome.
Rachel Fulton, Matron for maternity at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust has been part of the project, she said:
“We are so excited to be part of the launch of these packs. Cristina and the team have worked so hard on developing the packs which will make such a positive difference to families who have baby with down syndrome. So much thought and consideration has been put into producing these suitcases and we are hopeful that they will really make a difference to our families going forwards”.
The welcome packs are mini suitcases filled with useful literature, emotion cards, stories and advice. The aim of these packs is to support families and assure them that they are not alone and that the emotions and feelings they are experiencing are a normal part of the journey they are embarking on.
Cristina said:
“I decided to create these packs because of my son Max’s Trisomy 21 diagnosis came as a shock to me, I knew little about the condition, much of what I thought I knew about Down’s syndrome was misinformation and based on outdated stereotypes. The midwives were wonderful, my family supported me, but still I felt scared and alone. There was no signposting, I was afraid to google and rightly so. A year later, after speaking to other mums who said they too had the same feelings, the idea of a welcome pack was born.”
You can find more information and support about down syndrome at: https://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/
More information on Diff-ability can be found at: https://www.diffability.co.uk/
