Extraordinary Plunket teams earn awards

Swimming lessons for Patea children and unique support systems for teen mums in Hawke’s Bay have earned 2011 Eyebright Awards for two extraordinary Plunket teams.

Check out photos of the winners at New Zealand Parliament on the Plunket Facebook page.

Some of the four year olds from rural Patea, Waverley and Ball Road can now jump off a diving board into five metres of water thanks to Plunket-inspired swimming lessons which brought a community together. Similar leaps in self-belief have been seen among Hawke’s Bay’s teenage mothers in terms of their personal care and parenting skills, and both Plunket initiatives have been recognised with 2011 Eyebright Awards.

The Ball Road Taranaki Team, led by Plunket Branch President Debbie Jones, has won the 2011 Eyebright Award for Working Together. And the Young Parents Plunket Team from Hawke’s Bay led by Nicky Skerman, who has a Masters degree in Nursing, has won the 2011 Eyebright Award for Innovation.

Both awards will be presented by the Prime Minister at the Beehive at 3.15pm on Tuesday 27th September. The Eyebright Awards are in their 8th year. They celebrate the work of exceptional Plunket teams and are sponsored by Huggies and Wattie’s.

With 85 drowning deaths among under-fives recorded by Water Safety New Zealand in the decade to December 2010, 31 in home pools, Plunket supports all measures which help keep children safe in and around water.

The Eyebright Award winning Ball Road and District branch of Plunket set up their own $1 lessons with a qualified instructor in a local indoor heated pool. In year one 92 children took part in the 13 week course. In year two 75 children and this year 76 children have taken part.

Nicky Skerman, leader of the Eyebright Award winning Young Parents Team, highlights that New Zealand has the third highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the OECD. She took learnings from her thesis¹, and with funding from the Vodafone Foundation, gathered a small team of people together to run a pilot programme which has improved parenting and health outcomes significantly for teenage mothers in Hawke’s Bay.

The programme responds to the most resounding conclusion of Nicky Skerman’s research - that teenage mothers look for support from someone they know and trust. So Plunket’s pilot scheme sees relationships between teenage mothers and their Plunket Nurse forming early in Hawke’s Bay - before the baby is born.

The pilot is being formally evaluated by EIT and the results are due out in March 2012. Nicky Skerman says: “The results in our community speak volumes. My dream is to get this funded all over the country.”

Plunket’s CEO Jenny Prince congratulates the teams who have won the Eyebright Awards in 2011. “For our work to be truly effective we must make sure it is relevant to the families that live in that area. I am proud our two winners both show innovation and flexibility in delivering programmes that support two very different communities in ways that provide practical help while also strengthening community relationships.”

The annual Eyebright Awards were established in 2003 by Wattie’s and Huggies to celebrate Plunket’s care for New Zealand families. Each year they are judged by a panel which includes experts from the Maori Health, Operations and Quality & Development teams from Plunket’s National Office.

1. Nicky Skerman’s thesis is entitled: ‘What do teenage mothers want from the Well Child Tamariki Ora Service?’

Ball Road Taranaki Team

Three years ago an advertised Plunket Water Confidence course for babies in Hawera became the inspiration for the Ball Road and District branch of Plunket to set up their own $1 lessons with qualified instructors in a local indoor heated pool. Petrol costs, session costs and the time constraints meant many families were unable to commit to regular lessons in Hawera or Wanganui.

Debbie Jones says local parents enjoy being in the water with their children for the lessons which take place on Sundays between milking the cows. They finish off with a sausage sizzle and everyone goes home well-fed.

She says the area’s children have grown to love the water. “We’ve seen children who started out clinging to their mums like possums become confident swimmers. It’s also brought the community together. It was a chance for the dads to be involved hands-on encouraging and supporting their children and also to have a pool-side catch-up. For families it has been quality time together.”

The swimming lessons for children have spawned other water initiatives including aqua aerobics for the local mums and a more comprehensive understanding of the role of Plunket in the community, helped financially by the Whanganui Community Foundation, the Lions Foundation and ten local businesses.

Hawke’s Bay Young Parents Team

This exemplar tells of the relationships that the Well Child nurse has formed at a critical time in this 15 year old mother’s life, as a result of the extended Well Child programme being piloted in Hawke’s Bay. Baby is now 3 weeks old and his mother M has a Well Child nurse she trusts. M is also connected to support services in her community and with other teenage mothers.

M is a 15 year old who identifies as Maori. When I met M she said very little and gave me minimal eye contact during my initial antenatal visit. During M’s pregnancy she was referred to CYFs by the police after being found staying at a known drug house. M is not contactable by phone and proved to be difficult to reach in her pregnancy, being transient between 3 houses and wanting to be with her boyfriend against her parents’ wishes. On my second visit to M she was a bit more forthcoming I believe because she was getting to know me and trusting me. She shared a little of the excitement / trepidation she was experiencing at the impending birth of her baby boy. I was also able to start to form a relationship with her mum, who sat with us and joined in the visit. After M had her baby, I contacted her and visited her at her parents’ home. M was more open/chatty and giving direct eye contact, asking lots of relevant questions and receiving advice. M said she “loved” her baby and she handled her baby in a gentle, loving, confident and protective manner. This was a result I believe of feeling confident about her parenting skills and the affirmation she received from her family as well as from me, her Plunket nurse. I was able to share key health messages like choices of contraception, and the importance of her staying healthy, as well as concerns she had with baby such as hygiene / safe wrapping / safe sleeping, as baby was sleeping on his side and M wasn’t aware of how to tell if he was too hot or cold. These key health messages are important and M was interested because she had trust in what I was saying. The day I was picking up M for the Pepe (parenting education and support for young parents) group, M was ready as planned, her baby warmly dressed with appropriate clothing and car seat. She immediately asked my opinion on her baby’s health as she was concerned with his cough. She said that her mum had said to talk to me. From our chat we worked out a plan to attend Pepe then visit the GP. M told me that her mum was helping her a lot and that on her first day out of hospital she knew she had to leave where she was staying and get back to her mother’s home, to have her mum’s help. I will continue to visit M and baby until baby is 3 to 4 years of age. Because of the early intervention, I believe Plunket will make a difference in both their lives.

EYEBRIGHT AWARDS Background

What are the Eyebright Awards?
Star sponsors Wattie's and Huggies, in partnership with Plunket, founded the Eyebright Awards in 2003. In eight years the Eyebright Awards have evolved into an annual form of public recognition for exceptional Plunket teams. The Awards recognise the outstanding contribution Plunket teams make to New Zealand families and communities, and are supported at the highest level by Prime Minister John Key.

Why are Huggies and Wattie’s involved in this initiative?
The Eyebright Awards are an opportunity for Wattie’s and Huggies to honour the role Plunket plays in New Zealand communities. There are more than three collective decades of partnership between Plunket, Huggies and Wattie’s. The two brands are delighted to be able to tangibly support their relationship with Plunket, through the Eyebright Awards.

What are the categories?
The Eyebright ‘Working Together’ Team Award is ‘awarded to the team that demonstrates how they worked together to improve or deliver exceptional results for Plunket, or exceptional services to family or community.’ The Eyebright ‘Innovation’ Team Award is ‘awarded to the team that developed an innovative solution, opportunity or way of working to deliver better service to families, communities or Plunket.’

What are the prizes?
Each winning team is represented at the Awards presentation at the Beehive in Wellington where the Prime Minister presents them with a framed plaque listing every member of the team, and sponsors invest $1500 in an approved child-centred project in the winning teams’ regions.

How were the Eyebright Awards named?
The Eyebright Awards were named after New Zealand’s Eyebright flower Tūtūmako which flourishes in a variety of terrain and conditions. Tūtūmako flowers bloom in New Zealand’s mountains and alongside our rivers in February each year.

Released by Wattie’s, Huggies and Plunket
Media enquiries: Sally Elton 09 445 4585 / 0274 980 568 sally@elton.co.nz