Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world”. Through adversity, Nick & Kim Peake (Ruby’s parents) continue to demonstrated amazing resilience and courage to honour Ruby Mae’s memory and to help try make a difference to the lives of sick children through equipment donation, care packs and NOW education.
The mission at Ruby Mae’s Wish is to help other families in need when their child is receiving medical care and we are very proud to have been able to be a part of funding and attending an Education Day in Newcastle on the 1st March 2024. We hope the lessons and messages learnt on the day will be able to be used to empower the Drs and Nurses with the care they provide to families and the children when in need.
The education day was 100% funded by Ruby Mae’s Wish by the generosity of fundraisers, donations and merchandise purchases from the website. This was the first education day funded by the charity and was named in Ruby’s honour “Ruby Mae Education Day”. The education day was based around renal education and the aim of the day was to upskill and educate clinicians on paediatric renal conditions and therapies used to support these conditions.
The day was designed to be a multidisciplinary education day and consisted of two different sessions. The morning session was comprised of 4 x 30 minute dictated lectures and a half hour interview panel with Ruby’s dad and mum (Nick & Kim Peake). The morning session was offered throughout Hunter New England Local Health District and beyond with participants able to attend in person or virtually. The second part of the education day was run in the afternoon, which was a closed face to face session for John Hunter Hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit staff members able to attend. The afternoon session was targeted towards staff who had previously cared after Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) with 3 x skills stations in relation to CRRT and a tabletop discussion with a specialist nephrologist. Both the sessions (morning and afternoon) and the panel interview were also recorded, giving healthcare professionals who were unable to attend on the day access to also benefit from the vital messages and learning materials received.
Each staff member that attended the education day was asked for their feedback and evaluation around the sessions they participated in. 39 of the 69 staff members who attended (either in person or virtually) complete the assessments, with the feedback of:
- The overall satisfaction of the day was rated at 4.85 out of 5 (with 5 representing extremely satisfied),
- 95% of clinicians scored the theoretical covered in both sessions to be either good or excellent,
- 96% of clinicians scored the delivery of both sessions to be either good or excellent.
Below are some of the general comments and feedback from Clinicians who attended either in person or virtually:
- “The amount of knowledge shared was amazing and it was fantastic to have to option to join via zoom for those of us not on site”
- “I loved doing via zoom … as was done in my own time.”
- “I love the practical sessions we attended for the second half of the day.
- “I enjoyed the practical sessions to get hands on with troubleshooting and simulations.”
- “I loved all of it. But I like how there was plenty of practical time.”
- “You’ve packed a great amount into the day! I couldn’t recommend any changes. It was fantastic.”
- “I took knowledge away from today that will change my practice for the better tomorrow. Thank you.”
- “I really enjoyed the day and feel more confident in my understanding and skills.”
A key highlight of the Ruby Mae Education Day and standout for the attending Drs and Nurses was the interview with Rubys Parents (Nick & Kim Peake). These amazing parents showed so much bravery and courage to get up in front of the Healthcare Professionals attending and were able to describe to the audience the impact of being so far away from home when Ruby was sick and raised awareness around the difficulties families may encounter when raising concerns about the care that is being provided to their child in different situations, whilst also expressing the importance of supporting families, parents and carers to use tools such as REACH if they feel necessary.
Nick and Kim’s story was powerful and really impacted the clinicians attending as evident by the comments received in the evaluation reports completed:
- “I liked that Ruby’s family were able to contribute and explain their work directly”
- “Was lovely to hear Ruby Mae’s parents’ experience and I feel it was a valuable addition to the day.”
- “The interview with Ruby Mae’s family was also very important and hearing their experience while Ruby was in hospital. The message about empowering families to advocate for their sick child and not being inhibited to speak up to medical staff when they are concerned, is also very important feedback.”
- “Loved the Ruby Mae family session. It was very powerful and needed to be heard. What they have gone through is informative and such a learning experience. It’s also good to hear a different perspective and to have confirmation what most of us want to do as nurses (help and be an advocate) actually makes a difference to people.”
- “Highlighting the need to think ahead with deteriorating pt’s in rural settings”
- “I really valued the parents speaking their personal journey- it really humanised the medical process, their experience, the impact of interactions between staff and consumers, and the impact on their life . Its a very significant timely reminder to step into their shoes.”
- Meeting beautiful Rubys family was also really special and gave me a lot of insight into the journey parents have in PICU”
- “I thought seeing the family and hearing their journey very valuable.
- “The involvement of Ruby’s parents was also really special and added a very important patient focus to the day.”
- “However my favourite presentation was that made by Ruby Mae’s parents. Their story is heartbreaking, and I feel so privileged to have benefited from their tenacious advocacy for improved education”
We are extremely proud that we were able to attend the Education Day and that a key take-away from the day was the importance of understanding access to healthcare in rural settings and more importantly listening to parents and encouraging them to raise their concerns if and when they felt necessary.
The team behind Ruby Mae’s Wish would like to also extend our gratitude towards Dr Corrine Balit, without her Ruby Mae’s Education Day would not have gotten off the ground. Her unwavering support and kindness helped us bring to light our vision on delivering vital education to the Drs and Nurses who will be able to utilise it when its most needed. We can’t thank her enough she is one extra-ordinary lady with so much passion and empathy. Dr Corrine Balit is a big supporter of Ruby Mae’s Wish and has given so much of her time and energy in helping us to get to where we are.
We can only hope and plan towards this being the first of many “Ruby Mae Education Days”, especially after such positive feedback received so far!
