I am at conference in Glasgow at the moment. There have been some great moments and it has been fantastic to be with so many midwives and hear midwives speaking about their research work which I have previously read. What a buzz that is. I was particularly pleased to be present at the presentation given by Jaki Lambert (Scotland), Gisela Becker (Canada) and Sally-anne Brown (Australia).
Jaki spoke about supporting and strengthening midwifery in rural and remote parts of Scotland. She described and initiative which has seen continuing professional development for and by rural and remote rural midwives to meet the needs they have identified. This has created improved confidence and self esteem with these midwives and has seen an increase in women being able to birth locally, with skilled and competent local carers. I am very interested in this initiative as my research also identified that rural midwives in New Zealand wanted more locally delivered and context specific professional development activities. The similarity in circumstances for rural and remote rural midwives is amazing the sense of identity and difference acknowledged by rural and remote rural midwives seems to be felt across international boundaries. I believe that this is bond that we could build on to support each other in our practice.
Gisella described the development of a local birthing service for women in a remote rural community in the northern territory of Canada. Once again the issues for women and midwives share many similarities with remote rural communties in other countries.
Sally Anne spoke of a rural community in Australia reclaiming local birthing and re-establishing a local birthing service after it had been lost. This too was a thought provoking and inspiring presentation.
Yesterday I gave my presentation and this was well received. I recorded this and hope to save it online and link it here. I was thrilled to meet Pauline Costins [see the photo and top of this page] and have a chat face to face.
I will try to write more soon.
2 comments:
So glad to hear you're having fun. And you met Pauline, how brilliant! What was it like meeting someone F2F after 'knowing' her through her blog?
hi Carolyn, it was nice to meet you and look forward to seeing you at the next conference - I am looking forward to a long happy bloging relationship with you catch up with you soon.
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