“You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, but don’t mess with Mr in-between”.
I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that a guest blog piece I wrote for the Chaplain’s Blog – www.revdavidsouthall.com – is now online. Rev David Southall is the Chaplain for Worcester Hospitals and is based at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital near where I live.
I first came across him when I read this article in the Worcester News – http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/archive/2013/08/29/10638680.It_s_good_news_for_hospital_chaplain_s_blog/. It was very timely for me as I was going to write a letter to the Editor of the paper to say thank you to Jane Brassington and her team at the Early Pregnancy Unit in the Worcestershire Royal Hospital for their care and support during the early stages of my pregnancy with baby bump Frankie as I’d had six miscarriages in the past. They saw me at 6 weeks, 8 weeks and 10 weeks before my official 12 week scan and I cannot fault the care and treatment I received. This is a link to the letter I wrote that was published in the Worcester News – http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/letters/read/10586417.Hospital_staff_are_absolutely_brilliant/
It is all too easy to focus on the horror stories and negative ones that you hear about treatment within the NHS, and rightly so in some cases. But quite often the positive stories and news of the good treatment that people receive very often gets overlooked in favour of the negative. Rev Southall’s blog exists to counteract that, and he encourages patients and staff to write in to him and share their good news and praise for those who have given good treatment to them at the hospital.
I was thrilled when he included my story on the blog – http://revdavidsouthall.com/2013/08/07/god-really-does-grant-miracles-lisas-story-in-praise-of-epu/, and I had the pleasure of meeting him at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital when I had to attend to have a test for Gestational Diabetes. It wasn’t too long after that meeting that baby Frankie was diagnosed with a cleft lip and possibly palate at the Worcestershire Royal, and I was referred up to Birmingham Women’s Hospital.
I said in my first email to Rev Southall before I found out that baby Frankie would be born with a cleft lip and possibly palate that “God really goes grant miracles”. I have not changed my mind about this at all, the fact that he will be born with a cleft lip just makes him even more special and beautiful to both me and my husband. No matter what happens we will love him more than anything in the world, and he is wanted more than anything in the world, and God has granted us a wonderful miracle in baby Frankie.
It was Rev Southall’s good news blog that inspired me to start Baby and Cleft, and document my journey from diagnosis to birth, surgery and beyond. I also intend for the site to become a positive resource of information and celebrate the beauty of babies and children born with a cleft lip and palate, and to assure parents that as devastating as it may feel when a diagnosis is received, it is not at all the end of the world and there is much that can be done
I’m even more thrilled and honoured to be a guest blogger on the site, and here is my entry – http://revdavidsouthall.com/2013/10/13/and-frankie-makes-three-guest-blogger-lisa-ventura-on-the-joys-and-challenges-of-pregnancy/. I’m so glad I saw that article in the Worcester News that led me to meeting Rev Southall, and want to say a huge thank you for all his help and support since I’ve known him.
So if you have had good treatment at any of the Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust hospitals or have a good news story to share, Rev David Southall would love to hear from you. You can email him via revdavidsouthall@aol.com, or follow him on Twitter @revdavesouthall. His blog has recently gained over 100,000 views and is fast gaining momentum as a positive source of good news and inspiring stories.
So get in touch with him and…blog on!
