Tyler Redway
TODAY marks Red Nose Day, a day which supports the hardships that new parents may go through due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and a cause to develop research in hopes to prevent any little lives being lost.
Red Nose Australia CEO Keren Ludski said that this year’s goal was $800,000, where a large chunk of the money would go towards prevention and education messages.
On top of that, Red Nose Australia has also committed to a $100,000 research grant to help fund vital research for the fight against SIDS.
“The research that is being looked at is the role that particular enzymes may play in putting a baby at greater risk of SIDS,” Ms Ludski said.
“If they can determine what enzyme is deficient in SIDS babies, then the hope is they can develop a test and if they can do that, then they can also look at some interventions to keep these babies safe.
“It may be the missing piece in the SIDS mystery which has been around for too long.”
Ms Ludski said this years campaign would still remain primarily digital but would now involve more face-to-face interactions which were not possibly previously due to Covid.
“We have got lots of individual people doing events and we have merchandise being sold in different areas,” she said.
“It is still primarily a digital first campaign this year on social media and people sharing their images of them with their red noses.”
Ms Ludski said the last two years of Red Nose Day were bigger than the organisation could have ever anticipated.
“We were really overwhelmed and blown away by the support of our communities to not only raise what we aim to raise, but also better it,” she said.
“Red Nose Day each year goes a long way to being able to deliver a lot of our services for free.”
She said that the organisation was also lucky to be a part of two research projects this year, one being the SIDS research and another looking into better practices which would support families who have gone through losing an infant.
“The research component has been the foundation on which the organisation has been built,” Ms Ludski said.
“We want to make sure that the messaging is getting out there about our services which then translates hopefully into increased donations, which allows us to do what we do.”
She added that the easiest way to become involved with Red Nose Australia is to make a donation, while the easiest way to find upcoming events was to check through the organisation’s website.
