HAPPY NEW YEAR

Don't forget those of you who want to use the caravan:

BOOKING STARTS from 10 am on FRIDAY 4TH JANUARY 2008

Click onto the Caravan ICON at the top of our home page for details.

Mary's number for booking

01245 351702


Happy New Year to all of you and may 2008 bring the best of health, happiness and good fortune to each and every one of you.

CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR PERIOD

First of all I would like to wish you all the best wishes for the winter season. Whether you have celebrated Eid, Dwali, or are going to celebrate Hanuka the Christmas and New Year period is one where most of us like to celebrate. However it is also a time when many factories and medical supply distributors slow down or completely close down.

Don't be caught out, without going mad and stockpiling, just be wise and plan ahead for what you need not just for the Christmas week but for the first 2-3 weeks in January as well.

Take it from somebody who has been there and worn the T shirt. With a combination of the festive holidays, high levels of sickness and the bad weather often encountered in January, supplies can get a bit 'tight'!!.

Wishing you all the very best of health, happiness and good fortune

June

Newsletter Editor

Portable humidifiers

Hi Folks! Can anyone recommend a good, small, lightweight humidifier which would be suitable for when parents are travelling. Many parents have a humidifier in their child's room, but these are often rather bulky for putting in the car when going away. Any suggestions gratefully received.

NEWSLETTER CHRISTMAS 2007 EDITION

PLEASE send me your views, problems helpful hints and stories to help me compile our newsletter. How about sharing this years holiday experiences. You can contact me via Amanda our Secretary on support@actfortrachykids.com or by letter phone or personal email as printed on the back page of the ACT Newsletters.

Hope that you had a great Summer.

Every best wish

June Newsletter Editor.

Start of a new school year

For those of us with slightly older children, the new school year is well under way and before we know it, it will be half term. We would welcome any comments from parents whose children have started school for the first time this term - let us know how they are coping, or if there has been a change of school, perhaps due to a move or transferring from primary to secondary school. Are you happy with the levels of care being provided in school for your child?

Any views concerning schooling issues would be gratefully received!

HELP ME COMPILE THE SUMMER 2007 NEWSLETTER

I am in the process of compiling the next newsletter and I would welcome your comments, articles, photo's (JPEG) etc.,

Did you go to the AGM, let's hear your comments on the day?

I still haven't had any contributions about transitional care from Paediatric to Adult, this covers Medical, Surgical, Social Services and Education.

I would appreciate contributions by 1st July but will extend it for 2 weeks if you will contact me and promise to send me something.

You can email me on;- terry.june@ntlworld.com or gilky_june@hotmail.com or send it to Amanda. OR straight to me by post at :

82 Masefield Road
Little Lever
Bolton. Lancs BL3 1NG

Lets hear from you folks

Best wishes and happy blogging

June Foster

Older Childrens' Issues

Does anyone have any comments to make on helping an older child to learn how to become more independant with their own trachy care? Obviously all children can handle different things at different times, but if any parents have ideas to share on how they taught their child self-suction and how to change their own tube etc (always with a trained carer nearby) it would be really useful to other parents approaching that stage. We know that some parents encourage their child to take responsibility for as much of their trachy care as is safe right from an early age, others prefer to keep the care their own responsibility (there may of course be developmental or physical issues which would determine what happens). Comments from parents with a child approaching or at Secondary school would be particularly helpful.

General Trachy Topics

Hi! If anyone has any comments on day to day living with a child with a tracheostomy, please leave them here. This can include anything from washing hair, getting around the shops, accessing school/nursery, travelling, obtaining supplies, types of tubes used, velcro or tapes, respite provision, blue badges, affects on siblings, speech therapy, feeding issues, trachy training for carers, decannulation...........basically whatever your experiences are - good or bad - will be useful for other families caring for a trachy child. ACT hopes that no family should feel they are having to struggle on alone; the whole point of membership of ACT is to try to help one another and find out where things work well and then ensure that this can be replicated where things do not.

Welcome - first post

This is a new trial blog for visitors to ACTFORTRACHYKIDS.COM. It replaces the old FORUM. We hope that as many as possible will use this blog to exchange information and raise queries which we hope others may be able to answer or make comment.