Caregivers recognise World Prematurity Day

19 Nov 2020

Acting Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Manager Lee Pellicciotta said the initiative was undertaken to support parents whose babies were being cared for in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and to raise awareness of preterm birth amongst members of the community.

“Preterm birth affects up to nine percent of births in Australia every year, making it more common than many people think,” Lee said.

“We’re so fortunate here at St John of God Subiaco Hospital to be able to provide an array of leading services and state-of-the-art facilities that are allowing babies who are born early to not only survive, but thrive.”

As Western Australia’s longest serving provider of private maternity services, St John of God Subiaco Hospital has a long history of caring for premature babies.

The hospital provides Perth’s only private Neonatal Intensive Care Unit staffed 24-7 by onsite consultant neonatologists and neonatal nurses and can care for babies from 30 weeks, including those who require ventilation.

In addition, many of the hospital’s obstetricians are supporting a local, potentially life-saving research project which aims to identify patients who are at risk of giving birth early.

The Preterm Birth Prevention Study uses a new diagnostic test that may help to identify women who are at risk of giving birth prematurely due to bacterial infection.

For women who return a positive test result, the study is also testing whether a probiotic treatment regimen can be used to prevent preterm birth from occurring.

If successful, this testing and treatment program will be a major breakthrough in pregnancy care and will likely save the lives of hundreds of Western Australian infants and many more worldwide.