Celebrating local midwives

Bass Coast Health (BCH) celebrated its valuable midwives on International Midwives Day on May 5.

BCH midwives offer care to families during the ante-natal, birth, post-natal and early years periods. They work in the maternity ward at Wonthaggi Hospital and also in the community as maternal and child health nurses.

BCH offers three modern birthing suites and four post-natal beds at Wonthaggi Hospital, and provides ante-natal and post-natal care and early years care at sites and in homes across the region. 

“Plans are also underway to expand our midwifery service in the future to be able to receive more complex births, allowing more families to have their babies locally instead of travelling to tertiary health services away from their support networks,” a spokesperson stated.

Midwife Amie Brinkman cherishes her role working with families at all stages of the birthing cycle, including running birth education classes for families across the region.

“I love the joy of seeing parents hold their child for the first time. You know your hard work has paid off, and I feel so proud and happy for the new family,” she said.

Amie is a great advocate of the career opportunities available to midwives at BCH. She trained with BCH while undertaking her Postgraduate Diploma in midwifery for two years and has worked at BCH since 2020.

“We are a great team and we work really well together. We have excellent support from our clinical development midwife Lauren Yann and access to great professional development,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to the growth of the unit and exciting things to come as we expand to be a level four maternity unit with neonatal cots. This will mean more women and families can get their care locally.”

Midwife Maddi Carew also enjoys the variety of work midwifery offers, from working in clinics to home visits.

“The first birth I did was really cool and I love seeing women who I have assisted down the street and meet their babies who are now toddlers,” she said.

Maddi worked as a registered nurse before training as a midwife. Working with BCH gives her access to development opportunities that expand her knowledge.

First-time parents Amy and Jordan Kearney of Corinella were delighted with the care they received from local midwives during the birth of their daughter Asta in April this year.

“Everyone has been really great, especially with us being first-time parents. It was very personalised and we did not feel like we were just a number,” Amy said.

Jordan said, “We had at least two people with us all the time. It was great to have our daughter in a country hospital.”

The BCH Maternal and Child Health team take over from the midwifery team and provide the follow-up for families after they have finished their post-natal care. The maternal and child health nurses are registered nurses, midwives, and have Maternal and Child Health Nurse qualifications.

“We work with families from birth to school age,” Kathryn Anderson, Maternal and Child Health Nurse/Team leader, said.

“When a baby is born to a family in Bass Coast we are notified and make contact to arrange a home visit. It is then that our relationship begins with this family.” 

Families are invited to bring their children into BCH centres to have assessments completed at two, four and eight weeks, four, six, eight and 12 months, 18 months, two years and 3.5-4 years.

“These appointments are referred to as key age and stage assessments, and include an assessment for growth and development as well as parental and family support as needed, specific to age,” Kathryn said.

“We work closely with other early years providers and medical practitioners to ensure all children can meet their developmental milestones and families feel supported. We make referrals as required and follow up as needed.

“As midwives we support women with their postnatal recovery and adjustment to parenthood, and provide breast feeding and maternal wellbeing support.”

New mum's groups, young mum's groups and sleep settling groups are also provided to link mums socially as well as provide education and parenting support.

The MCH team has offices in Wonthaggi, Inverloch, Bass Valley, Grantville, San Remo and Cowes, where they see clients by appointment and offer home visits for the newborn and provide outreach as part of the program.

If you’re a midwife looking for a change, BCH would love for you to join the team. Express your interest by emailing hr@basscoasthealth.org.au