Mrs Melina Connors1, Miss Sonita Giudice1
1Queensland Health
Introduction: First Nations Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies have poorer maternal and perinatal health outcomes compared to other Australians. The Growing Deadly Families strategy is a vision that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies born within Queensland have a strong start to life being born into strong resilient families.
Aim or Purpose: The Growing Deadly Families strategy is to ensure that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman in Queensland, regardless of geographical location giving birth to an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander baby have access to high quality and culturally capable maternity services.
Implications: The Strategy addresses key areas to improve maternity services for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders. When mothers are healthy, before and during pregnancy, the likelihood of full-term pregnancies and babies being born at a healthy birthweight increases. From listening to the voices of our mob we heard “We want a say in how maternity services are designed and delivered”. Our action is to develop and form meaningful working partnerships for strong governance and leadership. “We don’t want to keep telling our same story to different people”. This requires all women to have access to continuity of carer, specifically continuity of a known midwife. “We want more of our people providing our maternity care”, which is embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce and support into health services.
Conclusion: The role of Aboriginal Midwife Co-ordinators within the Growing Deadly Families Strategy to impact codesign of models between Queensland Health and the Community-Controlled Health Sector is critical. Rural and remote locations such as Torres & Cape Hospital and Health Services and Townsville Hospital Health Service – Palm Island highlight the importance of culturally capable maternity care in reducing preterm birth, improving mode of birth and of including consumer’s perspective to effect meaningful co-design.
Biography:
Sonita Giudice
Sonita.giudice@health.qld.gov.au
0423 405 217
Growing Deadly Families Aboriginal Midwife Co-ordinator
The Office of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
Queensland Health
Sonita is a proud Gunggari and Wakka Wakka woman from Queensland. Sonita has about 10 years clinical experience as a clinical midwife. Sonita is extremely passionate about providing holistic and culturally appropriate care to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women and their families. Sonita is committed to providing enriched maternity care and support to First Nations families during pregnancy, labour, birth, and postnatal care.
Sonita continues her strong passion and commitment as a Clinical Midwifery Consultant within the Office of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer. She provides her expertise with clinical and cultural knowledge to support the codesign of these models of care. Sonita acknowledges it has been an honour and privilege to be closely involved in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women’s care, their families, and the community.
Melina Connors
Melina.connors@health.qld.gov.au
0423 585 195
Growing Deadly Families Aboriginal Midwife Co-ordinator
The Office of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
Queensland Health
Melina is a proud Gurindji woman from the Northern Territory. With over 10 years clinical experience as a midwife and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Liaison Officer. Melina’s journey into midwifery is by identifying the need for creating a healthcare experience that is culturally safe and to make a difference in the care of Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander women and families
Melina is committed to the development of best practice when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. In her current role as a Clinical Midwifery consultant within Office of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Queensland, Melina provides cultural and midwifery expertise to support the Hospital and Health Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations in the codesign of midwifery continuity of care and carer models for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, babies and families.