#026 - How a Parent Charity Transformed Neonatal Care in Barbados

Hello friends 👋

In this episode, Shelly-Ann and Mbozu sit down with a few members of the Parents Neonatal Intensive Care Charity affiliated with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados. 

Heidi and Andrew Hutchinson, parents of a baby born at 30 weeks who is now a practicing lawyer, share how they transitioned from frightened NICU parents to decades-long advocates. June Walton and Cheryl Walrond, retired NICU nurses, describe building the first parent education sessions and the culture of care that followed. 

What began as a Thursday evening Q&A between overwhelmed parents and NICU nurses in the early 1990s grew into a registered charity that funded system improvements over time. These included  refurbishing  every incubator in the unit, securing  surfactant in the early days before it was on national drug formulary, purchasing a portable X-Ray machine among many other initiatives.

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Short Bios:

Andrew Hutchinson: Andrew Hutchinson Is the  parent of a former preemie who helped to transition the parents group to a charitable organization and now serves as the Treasurer of the Parents Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Charity.

Heidi Hutchinson: Heidi Hutchinson is the parent of a former preemie and one of the early members of the Parents Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She is a longstanding advocate who continues to support the NICU at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados 

June Walton: June Walton is a retired Nurse midwife and NICU nurse who served as one of the early founders of the parent support group and continued to be an active member of the Parents Neonatal Intensive Care Charity in the it’s early days.

Cheryl Walrond: Cheryl Walrond is a retired assistant Director of Nursing Services and a former NICU nurse. She currently is working to reactive the membership of the Parents Neonatal Intensive Care Services Charity  

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The transcript of today's episode can be found below 👇

Shelly-Ann Dakarai (00:00) Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Global Neonatal Podcast. We are so happy that you're joining us again to hear inspiring stories from folks around the world improving neonatal care. Today we are joined by representatives from the Parents Neonatal Intensive Care Charity, an organization that is affiliated with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados.

Their work centers on amplifying the voices of parents and demonstrates how strong partnerships between families and healthcare providers can meaningfully improve neonatal outcomes — not just locally, but with lessons that resonate globally. We hope to explore the power of parent-provider collaboration and how lived experience can shape better systems of care. We're delighted to have them all with us today. We are joined by Mrs. Heidi Hutchinson and Mr. Andrew Hutchinson, who are parents of a premature infant and also serve with the charity. Mrs. June Walton, who is a retired nurse midwife and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurse for many years. And Sister Cheryl Walrond, who is the retired assistant director of nursing services, worked in the NICU for many years, and is now doing part-time work training neonatal intensive care nurses. Thank you all for being on the podcast — we are so excited to share your story.

So let's jump in to the beginning. Mrs. Walton, can you tell us a little bit about this charity and how it all got started?

June Walton (01:31) Before the intensive care unit came into being, we had what was then a premature nursery. The premature nursery at the time had three cubicles — one for the preterm babies, one called the graduate nursery, and one for the sick nursery. All the preterm babies and babies with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) would go into that particular nursery. Only nurses and doctors could enter, as parents were not allowed because of the limited space. The sick nursery was for patients with sepsis and other conditions. The graduate nursery was where babies would move as their condition improved, and where parents could come in and handle the babies.

After that, the need for a bigger unit became pressing, and with the help of PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit came on stream — I believe it opened sometime in November of 1990, though I may be slightly off on that date. At that time, even though the new unit was ten times bigger than what we had before, the equipment was essentially the same, with just a few additional pieces. The increased workload made it necessary to obtain more equipment.

Dr. Graham saw the need to bring the unit into the 20th century by sending two nurses to Sheffield to complete the intensive care nursing course. When they came back, they were able to teach the rest of us the intricacies of neonatal intensive care.

June Walton (03:54) At that point in time, only nurses who were also trained midwives could work on that unit. Those two nurses taught us what they had learned overseas. Out of that experience, they recognized the need for nurses to help parents understand certain things. Of course, it's a big unit with very small babies, and parents are overwhelmed by what they see. They feel sadness, guilt — all sorts of emotions. It was a really tough time, especially when babies were so small and some appeared to be dying. So we felt that educating, encouraging, and supporting the parents was necessary. That is how the Neonatal Parent Club came into being — before the actual charity. It was born out of the need for education and support.

For me personally, working with these families could sometimes be very overwhelming. You could hold some of these babies in half of your hand, and parents would ask, "Are they going to live?" Not only mothers, but fathers too — the questions, the crying. It was a lot. And that is the reason why the Neonatal Intensive Care Club was born.

Mbozu Sipalo (05:59) Thank you so much for sharing that background — for highlighting that it started as a club, driven by the needs in the NICU at the time, and the importance of peer-to-peer learning through those two trained nurses. To give us a better picture of what that club looked like — what were the first six months or first year like? Were you meeting regularly? Was it in person? How did the club build community at first?

June Walton (06:38) We met every Thursday, I believe at 5:30 in the evening. Of course, nurses work shifts, so the same group wouldn't be there every time — but the nurses knew what was expected and they showed up. It was much more question-and-answer than lecturing, with parents and nurses going back and forth. Not all nurses were involved, as people had other responsibilities, but a few of us felt it was necessary and got together. Some evenings there were two of us, some evenings just one, but we tried to meet as regularly as possible. There were times when the unit was so full that no one could step away — so it wasn't every single Thursday, but more often than not, we met.

Mbozu Sipalo (07:41) So it was a nurses-and-parents meeting with a Q&A session to make sure you were carrying the parents along as their babies were being treated.

June Walton (07:56) Yes. And one thing we also did — some parents were afraid to touch the babies. So we introduced the concept of touch. Even if the baby couldn't be taken out, we allowed parents to put their hands inside the incubator. We explained the importance of touch. Eventually, the fear began to ease. As parents became more educated and began to understand better, they were not as overwhelmed or anxious as they were when they first came into the unit.

Mbozu Sipalo (08:36) You've touched on the next question, but I'll still ask it since it links with the touch education. Other than educating parents on how to touch their preemie babies, could you tell us about any other initiatives that were meaningful in the first year or so? Anything that stood out for you?

June Walton (09:13) Another initiative was allowing parents to take the babies out of the incubator, wrapped, and hold them — to help break down that fear. And as babies grew stronger, even while still small, we also allowed them to be put to the breast to breastfeed. Those are some of the key ways we worked to engage families.

Mbozu Sipalo (09:56) Thank you so much for sharing that. That was a very good snapshot of the heart behind the charity and the background of it starting as a club. Shelly-Ann, would you like to ask the next question?

Shelly-Ann Dakarai (09:56) Yes — before we talk about how it became a charity, I just wondered if Sister Cheryl Walrond has anything to add. You were one of the nurses in the NICU during the Parent Club days — is there anything you'd like to share from that time?

Cheryl Walrond (10:31) I think what's important to note is that we held the education sessions in the evening, around five o'clock, when the unit was being cleaned. So it did not take away from the time parents could spend with their babies — when the floors were being mopped, parents waited outside, and we used that opportunity for the sessions.

What I would say is that educating the parents about their baby's condition — not in overly technical terms, but in simple language they could understand — helped them come to grips with the reality of their situation. Most parents would ask, "Have you ever seen a baby this small or this sick survive?" Explaining things step by step helped allay a lot of their fears.

We also explained what the equipment was used for — something as simple as the pulse oximeter. When alarms would go off, parents used to be driven to anxiety because they didn't know what it meant. But once we explained that sometimes it's just the baby moving slightly, they felt more at ease. The unit is big, with incubators and buzzers everywhere — it can be very overwhelming when you first walk in. Explaining what the unit was about and what each piece of equipment did made a real difference in how comfortable parents felt handling their babies.

Shelly-Ann Dakarai (12:52) Mrs. Hutchinson, I wanted to come to you now and talk about how you and your family entered into this story. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience as a preemie parent, the birth of your daughter, and how that translated into your role with the charity?

Heidi Hutchinson (13:19) She was my third child, and each of my children was born earlier than the last — but the first two were not in the NICU; they were discharged at six weeks early. We knew she was coming early. The doctors were trying to keep her as long as possible and managed to reach 30 weeks. An ambulance was already booked because we knew she would need to be transferred. I did not give birth at QEH (Queen Elizabeth Hospital) — I gave birth at a private hospital, and she was transferred from there.

When I was allowed to go see her the next day, I walked into the NICU — a 30-bed unit, bright, clean, incubators everywhere, bright lights, machines beeping, ventilators going. When you first walk in, it is very overwhelming. The two nurses I can still name to this day are June and Cheryl. My baby was 10 weeks early, but because I had been on bed rest, she was bigger than many of the other babies on the unit. The smallest, most critical babies were near the entrance, and when you walked past them, I thought, "How am I ever going to survive this?" But by comparison, my baby was actually a little bigger.

What's wonderful about the Neonatal Parent Club is that all parents — especially the mothers who are there all day — tend to become family. Your support system becomes the parent sitting next to you. When you're upset and nurses are busy, the mother beside you says, "Don't worry, things will be okay." And the next day when it's her bad day, it's your turn to say the same. It becomes a very big family for the length of time you are there.

Heidi Hutchinson (15:42) There was no surfactant available, and no ventilator for my baby. In those days, if equipment was scarce, you shared — give this one a little turn, then that one — but unfortunately there was none available for Lily. As I sat there for three or four weeks, I made up my mind that no other parent was going to have to sit there wondering what would happen because of missing equipment.

Both June and Cheryl encouraged me to join the charity, which had already started. By the time we came along, meetings were on the third Thursday of the month. They took place in the nurses' room off the unit. Every mother on the ward that day was encouraged to walk over while the cleaning was taking place, and mothers who had already been discharged also came back. People who were invested in the wellbeing of the unit would return for the meetings, and it grew from there.

The meetings started very much as a support system — nurses supporting parents, parents supporting each other. But as you got more involved, you started hearing things like, "We really wish we could have blankets." That seemed manageable — so you go to the fabric shop, you beg for material, and blankets are produced.

Heidi Hutchinson (18:08) From there, the breastfeeding room needed attention — the chairs were dilapidated — so we got involved, painted, decorated, refurbished, and bought new chairs. Things moved forward incrementally over the years.

It took us about six years to get a parents' room — six years of advocating for a space where parents could say goodbye to their babies in private, or simply eat, since many traveled by bus from far away and had to sit on a bench in the corridor. Eventually we got that room, with a TV and a microwave. Then the idea came — I believe from June — to bring in a recently retired nurse on a stipend to be present certain hours of the day, specifically to answer parents' questions when nurses simply didn't have the time. With a 30-bed unit and sometimes only three or four nurses, staff were stretched thin. That role became so well received that the hospital eventually took over funding it.

Heidi Hutchinson (20:31) We also addressed the linen issue — linens were going to the main hospital laundry, and the harsh detergent was causing harm to the babies. Dr. Cave raised the idea of getting a washer and dryer on the unit. That required going through the full hospital bureaucracy — permissions, engineering sign-off, voltage checks. It finally happened, and when someone asked, "Who will do the laundry?" I said that since mothers were already helping fold diapers, perhaps they could help fold towels and blankets too. And that became a lasting practice on the unit.

My other major effort was around surfactant. Dr. Cave said it needed to be available at all times. A dose of surfactant about 30 years ago cost around $2,000, with only a six-month shelf life. The hospital wouldn't approve it because they didn't deem it used frequently enough. So I focused first on getting it brought into the island duty-free, which reduced the cost significantly. Then the club started paying for vials. If a baby needed surfactant, the club would raise the funds. Some parents who had means would pre-purchase vials and donate them back if their baby didn't end up needing them. After many years of advocacy, the drug is now on the hospital formulary and provided free of charge to all babies — because we demonstrated it was a necessity.

Heidi Hutchinson (22:57) Andrew got involved on the equipment maintenance side as well. The technician who serviced hospital equipment — we'd let him know when there were issues, and we'd pay for whatever work was genuinely needed. Andrew was also very involved in the formal transition from club to charity — that was not my portfolio.

We also used to take photographs of the babies when they were first born, then once a month until discharge, and give them to the parents as memories. Sometimes that photograph was the only memory a parent had. Unfortunately, due to changes in hospital policy, photographs are no longer being taken, to the best of my knowledge.

Mbozu Sipalo (24:19) Thank you, Heidi, for sharing the challenges you went through and the big wins as well. And you mentioned your daughter is now almost 30?

Heidi Hutchinson (24:37) She's almost 30. Back when we were in there, someone in a position of authority kept saying the NICU wasn't a necessity — that if babies were born too soon, perhaps they weren't meant to survive. Cheryl and I were actually discussing this just this week. Yes, we do sometimes have outcomes with complications. But the percentage of success always outweighs the difficulties. My daughter is now a fully qualified lawyer. She was born little and fighting, and she is still fighting — she's a powerhouse. When you talk to other people who have preterm babies, they seem to come out with a fighting spirit. They're born fighting and they tend to power through in whatever they choose to do in life.

Mbozu Sipalo (25:47) Love that. Thank you for that beautiful story. We also have Andrew Hutchinson here — Heidi's husband — so we have a couple with us, which is wonderful. Andrew, we'd love to hear from you as the father of a preemie baby. And we know you're the treasurer of the Neonatal Intensive Care Charity — we'd be curious to hear how that role has evolved over the years. But first, just give us a snapshot of your story as a father.

Andrew Hutchinson (26:38) I came into this thinking that babies were just born and life went on — hunky-dory, as we say. I had never known anything about the NICU or premature babies before. So when my daughter was born and had to be transferred to QEH, like Heidi, I had concerns about the hospital's reputation at the time. But when I walked into that unit, I was absolutely blown away by the nurses, the care, and the equipment — limited as it was.

I'll never forget the first morning I walked through that door. There was a baby that could fit into the palm of a hand, no more than about two pounds. And I thought, "Wow, it's incredible that something like this could survive." It was a life-changing experience seeing all these little babies fighting for life. Our baby didn't have access to a ventilator, so she was placed in an incubator with an oxygen hood to get as much oxygen as possible.

As June said, it was really the nurses who started the whole parent engagement initiative. But because we had some very committed parents in the unit at that time, we decided we would take over that responsibility from the nurses — to run the meetings, educate parents, and take that load off the nurses so they could focus on the babies.

Andrew Hutchinson (29:00) We formalized it with a president, treasurer, and assistant treasurer. We met on one Saturday a month around five o'clock. All current parents would come, and as babies left the unit, those parents continued to attend and support the club. It was a thriving community at that time.

One of the first things we did was take every incubator out of the unit and send them back to the manufacturer for full refurbishment. We couldn't afford to buy new ones, but through my company I was able to arrange for them to be shipped, refurbished, and returned. That was one of the first real major achievements. After that, we added new incubators and a portable X-ray machine — because previously, a baby needing an X-ray had to leave the unit entirely and go to the radiology department. As parents, we had been taught how critical infection control was — removing jewelry, washing hands thoroughly, wearing gowns — and every time a baby had to leave the unit, it was exposed to infection risk. The portable X-ray machine eliminated that.

I decided at that time that I would commit myself to this unit because of what it did for my daughter. Thirty years later, I'm still the treasurer.

Andrew Hutchinson (31:18) The nurses in that unit have been incredible. People like June and Cheryl and all the others who were there when my child was born — I can't praise them enough. We supported whatever the unit needed — tubing for oximeters, any small items the hospital's budget couldn't always cover. As Heidi said, a lot of that budget historically went more toward adult patients than premature babies, because some people felt they weren't supposed to live. But that is simply not true. If you see some of those little kids who came out of that unit and what they're doing today, it is absolutely incredible. I'm there for as long as I breathe to help the unit and all the babies that pass through.

Unfortunately, newer parents haven't been as committed. As soon as the baby is discharged, they tend to move on and not come back. Our membership is revolving — new parents coming in, others leaving — and when a cohort isn't particularly engaged, participation falls off. But I understand Cheryl is working on reviving it with more current parents who are interested, and I'll be there to support them whenever that time comes.

Heidi Hutchinson (33:13) Cheryl has also reinstated Neonatal Week. In recent years, we've invited back some of the younger children who came through the unit. We have an evening where the doctors, nurses, children, and parents all come together. In our day, we used to have a Christmas party every year, with maybe 30, 40, or 50 kids coming back. We ran gospel concerts, barbecues, cake sales at the hospital — anything to raise a cent to buy the next piece of equipment for the unit. But you cannot run those events without people. Cheryl, June, Andrew, and I cannot run a gospel concert alone. You need hands. The younger generation are less likely to step up.

Cheryl, I wish you all the luck — when you get it going again, I'm coming to help. My daughter, who is now 30, is very interested in helping as well. She has actually taken over the Christmas Eve stocking tradition. She goes every year now and says she will keep packing those stockings until the day she doesn't breathe. So we have stockings going on Christmas Eve for a long time to come.

Heidi Hutchinson (35:11) Everything that we built is still being maintained and moved forward. They call me Mrs. Claus on Christmas Eve. Every Christmas Day I ring to find out how many girls and how many boys are in the unit, how many are preemie, how many are full term — and we pack the stockings to suit. I don't necessarily know all the nurses anymore, but whoever is on duty knows to expect the call on Christmas Eve, and everyone is very excited to count babies and report back.

One nurse has been on duty Christmas Eve now for about three or four years in a row — she deliberately chooses that shift.

Mbozu Sipalo (36:55) Thank you for sharing that. It's interesting that when we talk about improving neonatal care, the first thing many people want to discuss is equipment and technology. But the more conversations we have, the more we see that it is really parents and nurses who are at the bedside, figuring out what needs to be done and making it happen. We are so grateful to have people who care enough to go beyond the day-to-day and always push to make things better. Your story is going to inspire others to think — how can our parent club move the needle? You are not just parents, not just nurses. You are changemakers. Your voice matters, and there is so much you can do.

Heidi Hutchinson (38:07) One other thing I have to mention about our unit — if we lose a baby, someone from the staff attends every funeral. That's where I broke. I used to attend every funeral as well, but after too many baby funerals, I had to step down from being president of the club because I simply couldn't go to another one. And nurses do it all the time. Whenever there is a loss, every nurse feels it deeply, because they have fought for that baby for weeks or months. Sometimes you fight for three months and then an infection hits and you lose them — by which time that baby is almost like the nurse's own. You got very involved with the mom and the baby, you knew them by name. Up to now I connect with mothers whose funerals I once attended, and they are all very grateful. But I just couldn't do it anymore. I have to tell you — our unit sends somebody to every single funeral. That is how personalized the care is, right to the very end.

Mbozu Sipalo (39:33) Wow, that's truly remarkable. Sister Cheryl, I believe you wanted to touch on where things are now and where you see things moving in the future.

Cheryl Walrond (39:48) Yes. I want to say thank you to the Parents' Charity for all the contributions they have made to the Neonatal Unit through the years. They have been truly instrumental in helping us obtain and maintain a lot of equipment, and in providing those small but meaningful gifts on Christmas Eve for all the babies. They raised a significant amount of funds. I remember approaching them when parents were having financial difficulties getting transportation to the hospital — they helped with that too.

We were, and still are, like a family. Everything the charity did, the nurses supported. And I am personally a product of the charity's generosity — I was sponsored by the Neonatal Charity to complete a Bachelor's in Neonatal Nursing at the University of Southampton in England, about 24 years ago. I came back and vowed that everything I could do — educationally and otherwise — to make our unit the best it could be, I would do. Even after I moved into nursing administration, I stayed connected to the unit and its activities, continuing to provide educational sessions for nurses. It has made a real difference to the level of care we are able to offer.

Cheryl Walrond (42:13) I also want to make a public statement: I am in the process of revitalizing the Parents' Neonatal Charity. It is not dead — but I want to bring it back to full vibrancy. I have already spoken with staff, managers, and some current parents, and the team here is on board. I made contact with some parents in November on International Prematurity Day, and those conversations were very encouraging.

We always say that we are the advocates for the babies — we are their voices, and by extension the voices of the parents as well. The charity has played a very vital role in where our unit is today. As Andrew rightly said, we can still approach them should there be a need, and they are always willing to assist. I hope to have the first meeting by the last week of February. We will have some advisors to help us get started again, and I am very grateful — especially for everyone consenting to be on this podcast. The neonatal unit will always be dear to my heart.

Mbozu Sipalo (44:54) Thank you, Cheryl, for sharing your personal story and how you got involved in this amazing organization. I know that in developing contexts, funding can be a big hurdle for grassroots organizations. Andrew and Heidi, I'd love to pick your brains on how you went about mobilizing funding, and perhaps some "what I know now versus what I wish I had known" reflections.

Heidi Hutchinson (45:49) Before I hand it to Andrew — we used to bring a nurse from Canada for six weeks every year to train the nurses on the unit. Then it was suggested that perhaps it would be better to take that same funding and send one of our own nurses overseas instead. When she came back, she was here permanently — not just for six weeks. That's where that transition started.

In the early days, we did our own fundraising entirely. We'd hire gospel singers, rent a hall, sell tickets. I used to make the tickets at home and sew the tear-off stubs on my sewing machine because we had no funds but we were going to make some. Andrew was very connected in the business world though — let him tell you about that part.

Andrew Hutchinson (46:52) We started out doing our own fundraising, and with a very active club and a lot of people helping with gospel concerts, barbecues, and lunches, it worked well. But as membership diminished, those types of events became very difficult to organize. So I decided to directly approach businesses about helping fund the unit. If I heard that a particular business person had a baby in the unit, I would contact them and say, "You benefited from this unit — what about contributing something back?" Once that connection was made, they would generally make a very generous contribution.

We even had a very wealthy overseas family whose wife and baby nearly didn't make it — QEH saved both of them. The baby needed to be transferred to another island with better-equipped NICU facilities, but the family was extremely grateful for all the help and care they received here. I got a phone call one day from them saying they wanted to give back. I explained that we raise funds for specific needs rather than a general fund — if the unit needs an incubator, we raise for an incubator. They agreed, wired the funds, and I sourced the incubator directly from the manufacturer. That's how it works now — word of mouth and direct business outreach.

Mbozu Sipalo (49:47) I love that. You have the courage to ask — and that is a lesson for all of us. Andrew, knowing what you know now, looking back at your experience mobilizing funding — is there anything you would have done differently?

Andrew Hutchinson (50:24) I'm not sure I would have done much differently in terms of approach. What makes me sad is that the charity is not what it once was in terms of parent involvement. I would like to think that every parent who passes through that unit should feel what I feel toward it — and even if they're not in a financial position to support it, they could at minimum come and help sell tickets at a barbecue or a gospel concert. As the membership diminished, our ability to self-fundraise went with it, because people want to see that the charity itself is making an effort. They don't just want someone showing up asking for a check. The gospel concerts and barbecues brought us all close together — selling hot dogs, setting up for the event, working side by side. That was something very special.

But my child is 30 years old, and other members' children are even older. That's a long time to stay committed to one organization. I continue doing what I can in the business world because that's where I can still generate funding. I can't organize a gospel concert on my own — but I can walk into a boardroom and make the case for these babies. And anything to do with babies and children, the corporate world is generally very willing to support.

Andrew Hutchinson (52:53) The other thing I would say is that the NICU was a humbling experience. It doesn't matter what level of society you come from — wealthy or not, we were all going through the same experience. I became friends with parents I never would have met in my normal life. We didn't look at our standing in society. We were just friends, all out to do the best for the unit. And if someone needed money to get to the hospital, we helped them one way or another.

Heidi Hutchinson (54:01) We would help with utility bills, transportation — whatever people needed. Sometimes it was minor little things that made a big difference. And it wasn't just the few faces you see here. At our peak, we had around 300 club members coming to meetings. There was a lot of people involved at one point. We advertised meetings in the newspaper and sent out newsletters — long before email, doing everything with pen and paper and phone calls, ringing 100 parents to invite them to the next meeting. The nurses would bring whoever was on the ward that day down to the meeting, because we had long outgrown the nurses' room. It was a truly amazing coming together of all walks of life.

Shelly-Ann Dakarai (55:35) And that point about utility bills and not being able to work — it really underscores the importance of that multidisciplinary approach when caring for our babies. As healthcare providers, we're focused on the baby, on the equipment, on the clinical needs. And sometimes we forget everything else that surrounds that family. So it's so important to have these networks that bring us back to reality and say — this is what the family needs right now, and this is how we can help. I'll now hand over to Mbozu for our final question.

Mbozu Sipalo (55:35) Thank you so much for all your reflections and learnings. To Cheryl — as we wrap up this insightful conversation, we've discussed how reigniting the community is a key action item going forward. How do you plan to do that, and what does the charity look like over the next year or two?

Cheryl Walrond (57:15) My aim is to bring the charity back to where it was in the years we've been talking about — or even better. I know that is a mammoth task. But because I am on the unit part-time, I am able to meet with both parents and staff. I have already sold the idea to the managers and several staff members. Most of the staff here now are young and new — they don't even know the history of the charity. But they are a very good group, and those I've spoken with are willing to be part of it.

My plan is to speak with current parents about our intentions, sell them on the importance of it — the teaching sessions, the peer connections. One of the things we do is connect families who are going through a very difficult time with former parents who have been through similar experiences and offered to help. I already have a number of names and contact details for parents who have expressed interest. Having someone to talk to, a shoulder to lean on, a place to cry — that is at the heart of what this charity offers. That is how I plan to go forward.

I am soliciting the help of Heidi, Andrew, June, Heidi's daughter, and others to make it a reality. When I set my mind to something, I go for it. With God's help, this is what I want to achieve for 2026.

Mbozu Sipalo (01:00:16) Thank you so much for this truly insightful conversation. We usually close by asking for advice you would give to people working in your space on how they can make a difference. June, I'd love to hear from you — you opened this conversation with the history of the charity, and you are now a retired midwife and NICU nurse. What advice would you give to a nurse or clinician just starting out?

June Walton (01:01:03) My first piece of advice for anyone going into the NICU is to be compassionate. Compassion is the key. Be a good listener, and always be willing to help. In the NICU, you cannot always leave the moment your shift ends — sometimes you are still there long after. You have to be willing to give of your time.

The most satisfying thing for any NICU nurse or doctor is to see that child who was once as small as the palm of your hand come running back into the unit. To see a mother bring that child back and know how critically ill they once were — like Heidi's daughter. How satisfying it is to see her now as a lawyer, coming back to give back.

So my advice: be compassionate, be a good listener, and be willing to help. And for parents — remember that other parents helped you get through your time in the NICU. It should be incumbent upon you, as a parent who benefited, to give back to the Neonatal Intensive Care Charity. That is my advice.

Mbozu Sipalo (01:02:36) Thank you, June. And on that note — to our listeners, thank you for joining us for this episode of the Global Neonatal Podcast. We hope you found this conversation as inspiring as we did. If it resonated with you, please share this episode with someone who would find it valuable. If there's someone you think we should have on our podcast, please don't hesitate to reach out. Until next time, take care. Keep making a difference, and let's go faster together for newborn care. Thank you so much.