One of Penrith’s not-for-profit organisations is celebrating a quarter of a century providing expert parenting advice to families in the area.
Tresillian Nepean, located on the Nepean Hospital campus, has assisted over 125,000 families over the last 25 years.
Tresillian CEO Robert Mills and Chairman of the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District Peter Collins attended celebrations last Thursday, August 3, and acknowledged staff’s loyal service over the years.
“What you do for the community in giving babies and young mothers a start is invaluable, you can’t put a price on that,” Mr Collins said at the celebrations.
“The service you provide, I just can’t praise you enough.”
Mr Collins was instrumental in planning for the centre when serving as the NSW Health Minister in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“We’re very proud to be part of this community, and I will do everything I can to squeeze every dollar I can out of the State Government,” he said.
“We’ve got over half a billion dollars for Stage 1 of Nepean Hospital… in five years when that money is spent and Stage 2 is announced, and there will be a Stage 2, I want the best hospital we can possibly have with all the bells and whistles. One of those bells and whistles is Tresillian.”
Operational Nurse Manager Leanne Daggar is one of five staff members who have been a part of Tresillian Nepean since it opened.
“It’s unreal, it’s gone so quickly,” she said.
“It’s really exciting to have a lot of old staff here to celebrate with us.”
Ms Daggar said that while there has been many changes to how Tresillian supports families over the years, the presenting issues of unsettled babies and toddlers remain the same.
“I think families are much more complex these days,” she said.
“We’ve moved away from just looking after the child to actually looking after the whole family.”
Tresillian is a not-for-profit organisation that assists around 80,000 Australian families each year by providing evidence-based education and support on issues such as breastfeeding, sleep, settling and nutrition.
Mr Mills said it has been terrific to see the real support provided to families in the local area.
“Literally thousands of young families have benefited from Tresillian’s services at Nepean,” Mr Mills said.
Emily Newton is the Weekender’s police and political reporter. Emily is also the Weekender’s Senior Journalist.
