Landmarks illuminate purple and blue for feeding tube awareness
Over 120 landmarks are illuminating purple and blue across Australia and New Zealand for Feeding Tube Awareness Week (FTAW), 2-8 February 2025. FTAW aims to raise awareness about tube feeding and unite the community.
Tube feeding, also known as enteral nutrition, is a way of providing nourishment to the body when a person is unable to eat or drink, or cannot eat or drink enough. There are different types of feeding tubes that deliver nutrition directly into the stomach or small intestine.
ausEE Inc., Australia’s peak national support and patient advocacy organisation for eosinophilic diseases, hosts FTAW each year, as some of these conditions are among many, where people may require tube feeding to ensure their nutritional needs are met. CEO, Sarah Gray, says “Feeding Tube Awareness Week aims to increase community support and understanding about tube feeding and the impact on individuals, carers and families.”
ausEE is encouraging the community to get involved by visiting a participating landmark, and taking a photo to share on social media, using the hashtags #FTAWLightUp, #FTAW2025 and #TubieTuesday.
“We’ve had an overwhelming response to our #FTAWLightUp campaign and are excited to see so many landmarks, buildings and bridges showing their support for people with feeding tubes. They are shining purple and blue as purple is a common colour of feeding tube supplies and blue represents what flows through the tube, be it blended foods, breastmilk, formula, or water.” says Sarah.
The list of light up locations can be found at feedingtubeaware.com.au/raiseawareness/lightuplandmarks/
During Feeding Tube Awareness Week, a collection of #MyTubie stories will be shared across social media to help raise awareness about life with a feeding tube and a series of #SpecialistSpotlight profiles to highlight the important work and research in the area of tube feeding.
Visit feedingtubeaware.com.au to find out more about events being held during Feeding Tube Awareness Week and to access free resources, information and support networks.
ausEE’s Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ausEEInc
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ausee_inc/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ausee-inc
Participating Landmark Locations:
QLD – Brisbane, Bundaberg, Fraser Coast, Gold Coast, Ingham, Ipswich, Livingstone Shire, Logan, Longreach, Moreton Bay, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Townsville
NSW – Albury, Coffs Harbour, Goulburn, Lake Macquarie, Manly, Newcastle, Wollongong ACT – Canberra
VIC – Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo, Box Hill, Dandenong, Geelong, Shepparton, Warragul SA – Adelaide, Unley
WA – Perth, Albany, Bunbury, Geraldton, Karratha, Mandurah, Manjimup, Port Hedland NT – Darwin, Palmerston
TAS – Hobart, Burnie, Devonport, Launceston, Ulverstone, Wynyard
NZ – Christchurch, Hāwera, Invercargill, New Plymouth, Oamaru, Palmerston North, Wellington
About ausEE Inc.
ausEE Inc. is a national health promotion charity founded in 2009. Its mission is to improve the lives of those affected by eosinophilic diseases through providing support, evidence-based information, resources, advocacy and by campaigning to raise awareness and funds for research in Australia. One treatment option of eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE), an eosinophilic disease affecting the gastrointestinal tract, is an elemental diet which consists of a special medical food called an elemental/amino acid-based formula. It provides all the nutrition a person needs if enough is taken. Some individuals need a feeding tube to ensure they are getting enough of the formula or to give the oesophagus a rest.
