By Matthew Sims
Staff at Northern Health have celebrated the importance of the work which midwives do every day in support of mothers and families.
The Northern Health team marked the International Day of the Midwife on Thursday, May 5 to recognise the integral role midwives play in listening, advocating and supporting women through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period.
Northern Health women’s and children’s divisional director of operations Nicole Carlon said the day was an opportunity to acknowledge the large amount of work midwives put into developing a relationship with their patients.
“The relationship that quickly develops between a midwife and the woman she is caring for is like nothing else,” she said.
“The feeling you get when you see a couple become a family and they hear that first cry never wears off, nor does the feeling that you made a difference when you successfully help a mother to breastfeed.
“There is a multitude of evidence demonstrating that midwifery care results in better outcomes for women and babies worldwide.”
Northern Health also used the day to celebrate the success of their pregnancy and birthing mobile application Eve, which the team launched last February.
Through the Eve app, the team have received comments from patients and families thanking the midwives.
Northern Health chief nursing and midwifery officer Lisa Cox said the day was a welcome celebration of midwives’ work, especially during a difficult 2021.
“I would like to thank all of our Northern Health midwives for a very busy and challenging past 12 months, going through the second year of a pandemic, and acknowledge they are an instrumental profession within healthcare,” she said.
“Thank you for going above and beyond to support women and your colleagues, often working above contracted hours, in unfamiliar areas, as workforce constraints were felt during internal and community COVID outbreaks and staff furlough.
“We have so much admiration that our midwives continue to come to work each day, support women, support their colleagues and support Northern Health on a daily basis.”
