Local health visitors’ week-long celebration

Published Monday 26 September 2016 at 15:00

Health visitors from across Blackburn with Darwen are being celebrated as part of Health Visitors’ Week this week to highlight the key role they play in ensuring children get off to a healthy start in life.

Health visitors are specialists in child health, child development and public health who work at community, family and an individual level to promote and improve the health and wellbeing of pre-school children and their families.

They deliver different levels of service dependant on a family’s need, with families receiving five key contacts: antenatal contact, birth contact, a visit when the baby is 4-6 weeks old, between 9 and 15 months old and a further contact to assess a child’s development between 2 and 2 and a half years of age.

Over the course of Health Visitors’ week, which runs from September 26-30, a celebration event will be held in Blackburn for over 50 Health Visitors from across Lancashire who have successfully completed specialist UK Government-recommended training and are now well placed to help families, especially in promoting the infant parent relationship.

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, which provide Health Visiting services in Blackburn with Darwen, will also be using social media to share insights into ‘a day in the life of a Health Visitor’, share stories of families who have benefitted from services locally and highlight the fantastic joined-up working Health Visitors do with other children’s services in Blackburn with Darwen.

Health visitors’ work will also be highlighted as part of a celebration event showcasing good practice and health innovation in East Lancashire, at Blackburn Cathedral on Thursday September 29, from 10-3pm. Register to attend via: http://bit.ly/2byNd1r

Michelle Sears-Hardy, a Health Visitor in Blackburn with Darwen for eight years, said:

I wanted to make a difference and help children be the best they could possibly be so trained to be a Health Visitor. We’re nurses in the community who meet the needs of the community within the community. It’s all about making relationships with people to encourage positive life choices. There’s a lot of satisfaction and pride in seeing children progress from when they were babies till they are 4. It makes you feel proud that you’ve been involved in helping that family.

Councillor Maureen Bateson, Executive Member for Children’s Services, said:

Every child is entitled to the best possible start in life and Health Visitors play an essential role in achieving this. By working with and supporting families during the crucial early years of a child’s life, Health Visitors have a profound impact on the lifelong health and wellbeing of young children and their families.

Councillor Mustafa Desai, Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said:

The parent-infant relationship is at the heart of mental health for both infants and adults. Health Visitors are able to help parents understand their baby’s behaviour and promote the development of a close relationship between the parents and infants. Health Visitors’ Week gives us the chance to celebrate the work that our Health Visitors do and have been doing for a number of years.

Cheryl Forrest, Service Integration Manager at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust who manages Health Visitors in East Lancashire, said:

Health Visitors help to empower parents to make decisions that affect their family’s health and wellbeing and their role is central to improving the health outcomes of populations and reducing inequalities.

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