A message from Oliver Reichardt, Chair of Sands' Board of Trustees.
I’m delighted to welcome our four new trustees to Sands’ Board.
We had a huge number of applicants and I’d like to thank everyone who applied; it’s wonderful to know there are so many people keen to bring their experience and insights to help Sands thrive and grow into the future.
All of our new trustees - Sangeeta Agnihotri, Shetal Joshi (KSAVI), Sarah Threadgould and Kelly Williams - have a deep understanding and connection to Sands’ work, either through personal experience of loss or through their professional work; their wealth of knowledge and different skills will complement and strengthen the existing Board.
Sangeeta is a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology in Barts Health Trust and 2020-21 President of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Academic Council (Royal Society of Medicine). She became involved in Sands in her role leading the Perinatal Service for Newham University Hospital and the implementation of the National Bereavement Care Pathway at Barts Health Trust.
Shetal (also known as KSAVI) is a trained makeup artist and a positivity coach with a large social media following in the South Asian community. She found comfort, motivation and gratitude in celebrating both inner and outer beauty following the devastating loss of her second son, Shivai. She believes in sharing her vulnerability and is committed to reaching out to the South Asian community to help address some of the cultural barriers to talking about pregnancy and baby loss.
Sarah and her husband Andrew lost their son, Jacob, at birth in 2005. Sands was a lifeline, connecting them to other bereaved parents and providing crucial support through their hospital, St George’s in Tooting. Sarah got involved with her local Sands, hosting support groups and fundraising, and subsequently attended discussion groups to help trainee midwives understand the experience of bereaved parents.
Kelly is a midwife and clinic governance manager at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. She is currently leading on embedding maternity safety measures to reduce perinatal deaths and working within London to share learning as a midwifery chair of one of the “Halve It” work streams. Kelly has previously worked as a bereavement midwife, supporting families after the death of their baby and provided emotional and practical support.
We are enormously lucky to have such talented and skilled people joining the Board – and they will add to and complement the wonderful trustees we currently have.
As a result of the elections we now have 12 trustees on the Board – which is the maximum – and you can read more about all our trustees here.
I look forward to us all working together to ensure Sands achieves its vision of a world where fewer babies die and when a baby does die, anyone affected receives the best possible care and support for as long as it's needed.
With all best wishes,
Oli