The Member for Cootamundra has begun a campaign to create a hub for new parents and expectant mothers as part of the redeveloped Cowra Hospital.
Steph Cooke is calling for a Tresillian residential service at Cowra Hospital, which would be the state’s only inland in-patient facility based outside a metropolitan area.
Ms Cooke said support for such a service has been made abundantly clear in community drop-in sessions and consultation.
“Tresillian is a fantastic service that supports families and young children with expert parenting advice. This can be seen in the large numbers of people who access their day and residential services from across the state and their SleepWellBaby app,” Ms Cooke said.
“At the moment young families have to travel to Sydney or Canberra to access specialist parenting residential services. Creating a specialist residential facility in Cowra would take the pressure off families from communities such as Orange, Young, Forbes, Parkes, Canowindra, Condobolin, Lake Cargelligo, Harden, West Wyalong and everywhere in-between.”
“Cowra would become a hub for new and expectant mothers living in the Central West and Western NSW.”
Steph Cooke recently met with a local mother who had accessed Tresillian, who stressed the importance of the support offered through telehealth and other services, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic with mothers groups not meeting.
Tresillian CEO Robert Mills said he fully supports the idea of a hub with residential services for new parents in Cowra.
“This region has almost double the average birth rate, with more than 10.5% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, making it the ideal location for a service such as Tresillian”.
“It’s vital we deliver services where they are needed. We have a prime opportunity here to enhance the already incredible efforts of the Western NSW Local Health District, with the addition of a specialist early parenting in-patient facility provided through Tresillian’s trusted service model.”
