WATCH: 'Playdates' with emergency services are helping reconnect bushfire affected communities and ease children's trauma. Video by Megan McClelland
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00:00 [Music]
00:11 For me it was very much about having something good come out of the fires.
00:15 So, you know, you hear all the horror stories and I suppose with that perspective of then
00:20 becoming a mum and going straight into COVID afterwards,
00:24 I could only imagine what it was like if you had a young infant during that time or a toddler.
00:30 [Music]
00:40 We spoke to parents, caregivers, emergency responders,
00:45 so that could have been anyone from Red Cross to firefighters to paramedics.
00:50 And Jacqueline from SES, they really responded to, I guess,
00:56 the launch when we launched the Bib Study Report.
00:59 And from that they've kind of said, let's do something,
01:03 we can see that children are struggling with sirens and around emergency responders now,
01:09 so can we get them more comfortable, can we get them feeling safe around them again?
01:13 Because that's really important, they need to know who they can turn to in those times.
01:18 [Music]
01:22 My own daughter, when there was a car fire a couple of streets away from where we live
01:28 a little while ago, and now that's been like, she's like, and the fire came and the men came,
01:34 and, you know, like the same way a toddler would talk about it.
01:38 And when we were at Maria, she came, was very dubious at first, you know,
01:42 kept her distance, kind of did an inner circle loop of everyone,
01:45 and by the end of it she's there, like, hosing down witches hats.
01:49 [Cheering]
01:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]