Help for country families to find paediatric services they need
Finding help just got easier for families living in Western Australia's Great Southern region with the launch of a pilot rural paediatric health hub.
I am so excited to announce a collaboration with Kate from The Darcy Effect to make access to healthcare easier for regional, rural and remote families.
Let me tell you a little about The Darcy Effect and the incredible Mum behind it: Kate.
One Monday morning, Kate had been drenching some ewes when her 3-year-old son called for her to look at his little brother. She found Darcy unresponsive, blue and frothing at the mouth.
She thought she was too late
She thought she was too late. But she started CPR and after what felt like an eternity, colour started to return to Darcy’s cheeks.
Two weeks later, Darcy had another episode, and they were flown to Perth by the RFDS and spent two weeks in hospital.
They discovered that Darcy had epilepsy and was experiencing tonic clonic seizures.
Tonic-clonic seizures are the type of seizure most people picture when they think about seizures and used to be known as grand mal seizures. They are convulsive seizures with a loss of consciousness, muscle stiffening and jerking movements.
Two mums teaming up
There are a load of similiarities between Kate and my stories. We both grew up on farms in WA and headed off to boarding school for our high schooling.
Before having families, we had little interaction with medical systems or awareness of the challenges families like ours experience daily.
Both of us are doers. When Kate reached out with her vision of a rural paediatric health hub, we knew we had found a collaboration that was going to change lives.
So we are starting a pilot with the Great Southern Region of WA.
Paediatric Occupational Therapist is a practitioner who can support children in the Great Southern via telehealth with plans to relocate to the Albany/Denmark area in 2024.
Our goal
Our vision is to help parents and caregivers easily find information and support on child development, mental and physical health.
A central hub for finding child development service providers who are physically located in the Great Southern region, willing to travel to the region to hold clinics or workshops or to provide therapies and consultations online.
We are beyond excited to get this live and look forward to adding more and more services to it. If the Great Southern pilot is a success and helpful, then we will continue adding regions in WA – and maybe Australia!
Come check it out: WA – Great Southern – Perth Kids Hub
Pia
Perth Kids Hub was created and is run by me, Pia Hazelwood.
I'm a Perth Mum of two gorgeous curly haired kiddos, wifey and a communications and marketing professional.
Since our first kiddo was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect 10 years ago, our family has been on a mystery-shopping tour of (seemingly) every kind of paediatric specialist and therapist in Perth.
Along the way we have met the most amazingly talented and dedicated people who are passionate about helping our little (and big) people to flourish. Whatever that looks like and means to them.
Perth Kids Hub has given me a creative outlet and a way of helping families to find their own amazing team, who can help their child or children understand how their brains and bodies work.
