Message from the board chair Trevor Danos AM
Dear colleagues, Children and young people were at the centre of the District’s Board Strategy Day held recently, where a collective force of health professionals came together to share ideas on how to best help this cohort. With 275,000 children and young people aged under 25 – or a third of the population - living in NSLHD, the Board is committed to prioritising their health needs. We know that early intervention and equitable access to high-quality healthcare services can change the trajectory of a young person’s life. Renowned paediatrician Dr Billy Garvey, from the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, podcast host Pop Culture Parenting and founder of Guiding Growing Minds, painted a sombre picture of the mental health issues our young children are grappling with. We also heard from our own clinicians, including paediatricians Dr Anna Gill and Dr Karen Ziwi on what our services are doing – and aspire to be doing - to support children and young people. There is much work to do with our vulnerable populations, such as children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, Indigenous communities, those in out-of-home care, our LGBTIQ+ young people and those with complex
medical needs who often experience barriers to accessing the health system. Within these populations, a substantial proportion experience chronic conditions, mental health concerns, and social disadvantage, requiring us to take a proactive, coordinated, and compassionate approach to their care and wellbeing. The Board is deeply committed to supporting the district in achieving change and to improve the health outcomes for our youngest community members. As one of the first actions, NSLHD Chief Executive Anthony Schembri will be leading a newly created out-of-home taskforce set up to prioritise and coordinate whole-of-person health services for the 300 children who are living in out of home care in northern Sydney. It was an incredibly informative and powerful day that has given the Board and the District Executive much direction and guidance. I look forward to seeing where it goes. Warm wishes,
Staff, patients, and supporters at Royal North Shore Hospital cutting the ribbon to officially launch the Mighty Trek Walk for Prems Mighty Trek Walk for Prems launched at RNSH Life’s Little Treasures Foundation recently kicked off the inaugural Mighty Trek Walk for Prems challenge at Royal North Shore Hospital, marking the beginning of an incredible journey. The foundation, celebrating its 20th anniversary, supports families that face the challenges of having a premature or sick baby by providing easy access to critical information and community support to make a difference. The challenge will see families, hospital staff, friends and supporters push the NICU incubator the 900km in 20 selected locations on the route from Sydney to Melbourne in October. The challenge aims to raise $1 million to allow the foundation to continue supporting families during their most difficult moments. As part of the launch day celebrations, the hospital was paid a special visit by baby Zenon and his parents Handuni and Sumal Perera. Zenon spent months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after being born at just 24 weeks and five days. Speaking at the launch, Handuni expressed her gratitude to Life’s Little Treasures Foundation and RNSH NICU staff who helped treat Zenon. “Without the support we received from the hospital staff, Life’s Little Treasures Foundation, family and friends, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to be as strong as we were during that time,” she said. RNSH will be the first stop of The Mighty Trek Challenge where supporters will walk laps at the neighbouring Gore Hill oval. For more information, to sign up or to donate to the challenge, visit: www.walkforprems.org. au.
Trevor Danos AM Board Chair
Anthony Schembri, Tish Bruce, Dr Billy Garby, Mary Chiarella and Trevor Danos at the Board Strategy Day.
NSLHD NEWS | ISSUE 4| 14 MARCH 2025
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WWW.NSLHD.HEALTH.NSW.GOV.AU
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