May 5 was International Day of the Midwife and on May 12 it is International Nurses Day and in the Bega Valley nurses and midwives are being celebrated with a morning tea at the South East Regional Hospital on Wednesday, May 8.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
NSW chief nursing and midwifery officer Jacqui Cross said midwives across the state provide high quality care during one of the most important times in a family's life.
"This is a really special day for midwives all around the state to stop and think about the huge contribution they make to women, babies and their families," Ms Cross said.
"Midwives are in a really unique position. They get to share some really joyous times with women and families and they can make a real difference to the experience of pregnancy, birth and early parenting," Ms Cross said.
It is something that local mothers know only too well.
After midwife, child and family nurse and lactation consultant Shannon Thomson retired several mothers came forward to say how much they had appreciated her help particularly with respect to her work on tongue tie.
"She was honestly a life saver, I cried with relief after she found the tongue tie. It was a difficult one to find but I had asked the paediatrician at the hospital plus another nurse and his GP and she was the only one who found it. And co-ordinating the cut and support afterwords was excellent," Rebeccah of Wolumla said.
"Shannon was amazing. She was so knowledgeable about everything and so helpful in co-ordinating to fix Robbie's tongue tie. She just made everything so easy," Alice of Merimbula said.
It was the same for Bek of Merimbula who said Shannon had a wealth of information that she could explain easily, was understanding and supportive.
"She was the only medical professional to pick up on my son's tongue tie after weeks of looking," Bek said.
There was a tribute from Chloe too.
"I met Shannon when we first arrived in Merimbula, Ocean was only four weeks old and Shannon was a life saver, a wealth of information, she put our minds at ease straight away. Shannon picked up on Ocean's tongue tie and booked her in to have it sorted straight away, she also let us know about all the community support on offer and suggested the best mothers group ever. Thanks for making our transition into parenthood so smooth and enjoyable Shannon."
Lyndall of Merimbula also sent her thanks and best wishes saying that Shannon always had answers to her questions with her first born.
"I always left our appointments feeling far more confident than going in. She was a huge asset in our lives in those first few months of my daughter's life and I will be forever grateful. All the best Shannon and we hope to still bump into you from time to time," Lyndall said.
