Welcome to the May edition of RISA News. It contains lots of great information, feedback from our conference and notice of our June AGM. It also contains, as always, personal stories, book reviews and recipes.
Have you thought about becoming a RISA volunteer? We recently had more exposure to healthcare professionals and are starting to get a lot more referrals – new parents who need a bit of support – usually by way of email or feedback on our forums. If you’re interested in being a RISA volunteer, membership is free and the collegial community of RISA volunteers is worth being part of, just for its own sake. Why not have a look at some of the positions available at RISA at our June AGM? All of them are filled by volunteers – mums doing what they can from home while managing their sometimes difficult refluxers, jobs and family lives. We’re an understanding bunch who just do what we can to help other parents and help raise awareness of how difficult and serious this condition can be.
Please email us or go here to check out how to volunteer and take a squiz at our training manuals or have a look at the RISA volunteer positions here to see if anything interests you.
This issue contains:
- What every reflux parent needs to know about a medication wean by Dr Naomi Farragher;
- Top 20 things not to say to a reflux parent (thanks Facebookers!);
- Top 12 things reflux parents would like to hear (again, thanks Facebookers);
- Your thoughts on the way forward for our forums: Facebook or not to Facebook… that is the question;
- The 2013 RISA Conference for Health Care Professionals report;
- Conference presentations on Youtube;
- President’s opening address to the RISA conference;
- Infant reflux advocacy – the need for better medical professional education;
- A new list of Australia-wide speech pathologists specialising in paediatric feeding kindly provided by Speech Pathology Australia. List is available in the speech pathology section of this page;
- Local groups report – Brisbane North;
- Personal stories from Mel and Eliza and Bec and Olivia (thanks Mel & Bec!);
- Recipes for Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding and Banana Bread; and
- Book reviews on Children’s Books Available for Borrowing from RISA Library and What’s Eating my Child by Kelly Dorfman; AND
- Notice of our 2013 AGM, positions to be filled, position descriptions, our meeting schedule and our administrative email group.
We’ve been able to recently include the comprehensive list of contributors to Reflux Reality on our website. The book is authored by Glenda Blanch in association with RISA but there are 25 other expert contributors – some who’ve authored relevant sections. Many having reviewed multiple sections relevant to their areas of expertise.
If you’d like to contribute to our newsletter or provide us with feedback, please email info@reflux.org.au.
Happy reading,
Joanne Matthews
Newsletter Editor and RISA President