Emma Pollard

3 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Janelle Miles |Emma Pollard

A new study has revealed newborns who are vitamin D deficient at birth are at a higher risk of future mental health disorders. Researchers analysed vitamin D levels from more than 70,000 people born in Denmark between 1981 and 2005, where blood spot tests from newborns are kept. Vitamin D is one of the topics being considered by a federal government-funded review of Australia's pregnancy care guidelines.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Janelle Miles |Kate McKenna |Emma Pollard

The mother of a transgender teenager has launched a legal challenge to the Crisafulli government's freeze on public access to hormone treatments for children with gender dysphoria, claiming it is unlawful. Her lawyers say the legal action alleges Queensland Health's Director-General David Rosengren improperly exercised his power when he issued a directive suspending the treatments, including puberty blockers, in late January.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Emma Pollard |Janelle Miles

Aged care resident Arlene Freeland admits it's getting harder for her to clean her teeth properly as she grows older. "I try my best and some days it's not good enough, really," she says. "There should be more help for us oldies, who need as much help as we can get."Dental therapist Leonie Short visited Arlene's Ipswich aged care facility, west of Brisbane, educating residents and their carers about preventative oral health care for seniors. "Some of it was tips I didn't know," Arlene said.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Janelle Miles |Emma Pollard

A mother of a trans teenager has successfully taken the first step in legal action against the Queensland Health Director-General over the state's freeze on puberty blockers. The woman, whose name cannot be published to protect the identity of her daughter, has obtained an order in the Supreme Court to force Dr David Rosengren to provide her with a statement of reasons for the freeze.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Emma Pollard |Janelle Miles

Revelations that 17 children were given unauthorised gender treatments at a Cairns clinic led to a ban on public doctors in Queensland from giving children puberty blockers or hormones in January. Now the parents of teens caught up in the freeze are speaking out.