Midwifery at Griffith is celebrating 10 years since the introduction of our Bachelor of Midwifery Program.
The School of Midwifery has plenty to celebrate at this milestone occasion on Friday 18 October. Recipients of the Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) 2017, Program Award for Bachelor Midwifery, number 1 in Australia and 4th Globally according to the 2019 Shanghai rankings and other numerous Griffith teaching awards since the program started 10 years ago.
With an initial intake of 48 students in 2010, the program has graduated a total of 357 midwives who during their three-year undergraduate program have supported women give birth to in excess of 14,280 babies.
Head of Midwifery, Professor Jenny Gamble, an internationally renowned and highly awarded researcher and educator with 30+ years’ standing as a midwife has seen many changes over the years. Professor Gamble credits the most significant change as the advent of a global movement to provide women with access to continuity of midwifery care (known, named midwife throughout pregnancy, labour and birth and following birth to 6 weeks postpartum). Midwifery@Griffith is a significant contributor to this global movement with the establishment of the Transforming Maternity Care Collaborative.
The Collaborative brings together four key arms of Griffith’s midwifery research and scholarship; Practice Translation, Workforce, Health Promotion, and Education. These pillars foster engagement with a range of key stakeholders including consumers, researchers, economists, educators, clinicians and health services from across the globe.
One of the many outstanding graduates from the Midwifery program, is a proud Ngunnawal woman, Cassandra Nest. A consistently high performing student, Ms Nest was awarded an Indigenous Midwifery Cadetship, an Indigenous Rotary Health Scholarship and Griffith University Academic Achievement awards for two consecutive years. In early 2018, Ms Nest accepted an innovative joint appointment that was created via a partnership between Midwifery@Griffith and the Gold Coast University Hospital. Her role allows her to work alongside current Bachelor of Midwifery students to inspire and support them to complete their studies, even if any hardships were to arise. Each year she mentors First Peoples midwifery students in a practical setting to ensure they are receiving, promoting and providing culturally safe care for First Peoples women, babies and families. A notable and recent career highlight for Cassandra was receiving the 2018 First Peoples NAIDOC Award ‘Because of her we can’, for being an inspiring First Peoples woman and leader in the health service and community.
In the recent 2019 Australian (newspaper) Research Leaders List Griffith University was named the Leading Institution in Australia for research in the field of Pregnancy and Childbirth.
Queensland’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Adjunct Professor Shelley Nowlan, extended her congratulations to Griffith University saying the announcement “helps showcase midwives globally as being the key primary health providers to women during pregnancy, throughout labour and birth and into the early parenting period.”
2020 has been named by the World Health Organisation as the ‘International Year of the Midwife’ in honour of the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, providing a once in a generation opportunity to showcase the profession.
Midwifery is more than a job. It’s a challenging, varied and highly specialised role that integrates skill, knowledge and tradition. The Griffith University Bachelor of Midwifery program prepares graduates to not only be evidence-based practitioners and work in continuity of midwifery care models but also to envision what maternity care should look like for the future.
The Bachelor Midwifery 10-year Celebration Gala Dinner is taking place at the Rydges Hotel, Southbank in Brisbane on Friday 18 October with special guest speaker, Australian actress and film maker, Zoe Naylor. Secure your tickets today as they are selling quickly.
Location: Rydges Hotel, Southbank, Brisbane.
Date: Friday 18 October 2019
Time: 6:30 pm
For further information please email [email protected]
NB: Rydges Hotel is offering a reduced room rate for anyone wishing to stay over, just let them know that you are attending the Gala Dinner when you book your room to obtain the reduced room rate.
Join us for a gala dinner and dance celebration with special guest speaker Zoe Naylor.
Zoe is a well-known Australian actress: having worked extensively in film television and theatre. You may remember her as Regan Mcleod in ‘Mcleods Daughters’ or as Kate in the Australian feature film ‘The Reef’. She often holds space as an MC and has worked as a Presenter across many TV shows both here and in New Zealand. Despite her many accolades, Zoe says her recent homebirth experience is by far her ‘greatest achievement to date’. Zoe is now co-creating a documentary about birth called ‘Birth Time’ www.birthtime.world
