Bliss Scotland volunteer receives local hero award
Broxburn mum Coady Dorman, who is a volunteer for Bliss Scotland, has taken on the mantle of this month's Local Hero after raising much-needed funds and awareness for the charity, following the premature birth of her son Matthew at 29 weeks in 2013.
As a way of saying thank you to Bliss Scotland, which helped her after Matthew was born, Coady has dedicated her time to supporting parents with premature babies at St John's special care baby unit to get through what is a very stressful, worrying and often lonely time.
Coady has also been highlighting changes that need to be addressed in neonatal care to practitioners and politicians, including presenting the Bliss Baby Report 2017 in January to the Scottish Parliament, which was live-streamed to Westminster.
This report included recommendations for better family-centred care, focusing on helping parents to get more involved with the care premature babies receive in hospital, which is important for parental bonding, and highlighting the need for more family rooms and neonatal transport services.
Coady also presented at the British Association of Perinatal Medicine Conference at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh where she gave a parent's view of what happens when you have a premature baby and advised medical professionals on different and better ways of communicating with families.
Among the fundraising events carried out by Coady, pictured on the left with Matthew, were a Bliss Little Heroes Walk in April at the Kelpies in Falkirk, which raised £1,000 and a sponsored buggy push.