Leeds City College

Health and Social Care students from our Quarry Hill campus are taking part in a project which supports mothers who were unaware they were pregnant until the very late stages or the onset of labour.

Students are helping to create emergency welcome packs for new mothers containing essential items including nappies, clothes and wipes.

The project was created by Sarah Jones, who works for Yorkshire Ambulance Service as a crew member, and was featured on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and ITV Calendar News on Tuesday 2 June.

Sarah was inspired by her experiences working for Yorkshire Ambulance Service and wanted to support new mothers who have a cryptic pregnancy.

Cryptic pregnancy is a pregnancy that goes unrecognised by the person carrying the baby until the later stages of pregnancy or, in some cases, until labour begins. It is estimated that over 300 women in the UK experience a cryptic pregnancy every year.

Sasha Moyo, Level 3 Health and Social Care student, said: “I think it’s really good that people who might be having a baby unexpectedly have people showing that they care. It’s something that would be good practice for me wanting to be a nurse practitioner in the future.

“I think part of being a practitioner is knowing that not everything will go as planned, but everything should be a learning curve and seeing how Sarah has used her experience as an ambulance worker to come up with this idea is really inspiring”

Ashley Masendeke, another Level 3 Health and Social Care student, added: “This was a great opportunity for me to help children and newborns and relates to the career I want to pursue as a social worker.”

Leeds City College will be taking over the project where our students will continue to contribute to creating the support packs while gaining valuable work experience alongside their studies.

Sheila Lucciarini, Assistant Principal at Quarry Hill campus, said: “Students and staff have been fundraising to provide the welcome packs to Yorkshire hospitals, an idea that came from Sarah after experiencing unexpected births in her job.

“This can be traumatic for the new parents, and of course they will not have the basics for their new baby. This project aims to support both new parents and the hospitals when this happens.”