NI ‘early arrivals’ charity appoints support team head

A senior social worker who has been engaged in surveying the needs of Northern Ireland parents of children born too soon or too small is to head up a support service dedicated to their needs.

Ruth Morrison, formerly with the Coleraine-based Causeway Trust, has joined NIMBA, the Northern Ireland Mother & Baby Action charity, to head up a unit dedicated to help parents of premature and multiple babies.

Working closely with the neonatal units of hospitals throughout Northern Ireland she will direct a volunteer team in giving home-based support to the mothers of ‘early arrivals’.

The need for such a network was identified following the revelation that post neonatal help is inadequate for many of the 2000 mothers who each year give birth to babies who are born too soon or too small.

The neglect of these mothers was described as a ‘crying shame’ by Professor Jim Dornan, the chairman of Northern Ireland’s 15-year-old charity.

Earlier in the day, a former president of the Open University Students association was appointed fund-raising manager to the charity.

Eileen McDonald will assist medical specialists and the neonatal units of hospitals throughout Northern Ireland seeking to provide home-based support to the mothers of ‘early arrivals’.

NIMBA, a locally based charity, is the only agency offering this unique service as backup to the community-based support provided by the health and social service.

(MB)