TWO key campaigners in a shake-up of Tamworth’s maternity services have shared their story of grassroots activism with a semi-national audience.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Samantha Wibberley and Sally Cusack were selected by a committee to speak on day one of the 2017 Australian College of Midwives’ state conference today.
The talk, Women Moving Mountains, described how the Tamworth mother and Maternity Choices Australia state president, respectively, kicked off a swell of support and action when the local midwifery group practice (MGP) was in jeopardy.
The conference is being held at the Powerhouse Hotel in Tamworth.
Its theme is Birthing in the Bush: What does the future hold?
About 140 midwives, students and industry representatives from at least three states and territories are attending.
The speakers told how a concerned phone call about the MGP’s future had led to letters to the editor, dozens of media stories, hundreds of supporters, a rally, a petition – and now, the formation of a community committee to decide where to from here.
Ms Wibberley said the ball started rolling in such a big way because Tamworth area women overwhelmingly wanted “continuity of care and meaningful engagement”.
“As soon as [Friends of Tamworth Maternity Services] Facebook group was created, women flooded the page with expressions of sadness that the MGP was closing,” Ms Wibberley said.
“The expressed their love for the midwives and the huge difference it made to their births.
“They all [shared] how knowing their midwives and being involved in the decisions for their care led to better outcomes and faster recovery.”
As for the future, Mrs Cusack said it was important for “mothers and midwives … to work together if we want to see change”.
“All midwives in hospitals need to be a united front. We want to move mountains, but we need to do this shoulder-to-shoulder with midwives,” she said.
ACOM president Caroline Homer said it was “not uncommon” to see such waves of action from women who were pregnant or had just had their first child.
“[They] will get political because they’ve either had a great experience and want other women to have that ... or, sadly, more commonly, they haven’t had a great experience and want to make sure someone else doesn’t have the same experience – or them, next time they have a baby,” Professor Homer said.
WHERE IT ALL STARTED: