The Miracle Babies Foundation, a community organisation that provides important support for 1,100 families with premature or sick newborns across the Hunter, Mid North Coast and New England, has received a significant funding boost to support its Nurture Program for the next 12 months.

 The Foundation will use $37,000 from Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation to sustain its vital Nurture Program, the only one of its kind in Australia.

 The grant will allow the program to remain at no cost to John Hunter Children’s Hospital or the families within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and also help fund the recruitment and training of up to 20 new volunteers.

 Miracle Babies Foundation Cofounder and National Programs Manager Naomi Rohr said the program coordinators work with health care professionals and former NICU families to create meaningful communities that empower families of premature and sick newborns.

 “I know personally, spending time in NICU can be a highly stressful experience for families and without support, this overwhelming and traumatic experience can have lifelong effects on the emotional wellbeing of these miracle families. The Nurture Program addresses this need for support and thanks to the funding from Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation we can continue to offer the program to local Families through 2014.”

 Did you know?

• Every year in Australia around 45,000 newborn babies require the help of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Special Care Nursery. Of these babies 25,000 are born premature and up to 1000 babies lose their fight for life.

• John Hunter Hospital is home to one of 22 state-of-the-art intensive care units designed to meet the unique and critical needs of premature and sick babies.

• Multiple studies have demonstrated that many parents develop clinically significant anxiety disorders such as acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.

• Estimates of between 28% and 70% of mothers of premature infants have been reported as having clinically significant degrees of psychological distress.