Midwifery careers in Southern NSW

[Sounds of a babies heartbeat, the ocean, birds chirping]

Hannah Bird - Clinical Midwifery Consultant

Finishing a night shift after spending time with women and babies on the ward and then being able to leave and go for a surf first thing in the morning at sunrise, is pretty special. Yeah.

[On-screen text: Come to Southern Midwifery]

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In rural areas, you don't get pigeonholed into one area of your specialty or of healthcare. Your knowledge base becomes so much broader and you get to experience so much more.

Sheree Barr - Midwifery Unit Manager

If you don't quite have all those skills, we have a full-time midwifery educator. We've got the support put in place for you to increase those skills.

Gemma O'Sullivan - Midwifery Unit Manager

When I first came here, I was the midwife and then I was able to work myself up to the Maternity Unit Manager position. We do all of it, it's all together.

Rebekah Bowman - District Midwifery Manager

We have a higher vaginal birth rate in these areas compared to metropolitan. Seeing less intervention, seeing less of that cascade of consequences of intervention.

[Map of Southern NSW LHD]

The whole health District is over such a large area, but we're still really connected. We've got the benefits of working in a small space with a small team but still feeling really supported by a network of fantastic midwives from the wider space of southern NSW.

Katherine Stock - Midwife, Queanbeyan Hospital

The team, they are professional and they are fun.

People actually really value working here. That relationship building that we have with women and their families that you just don't see in a big hospital because there's no time.

Sheree Barr - Midwifery Unit Manager

You have a continuity of care from the beginning of your pregnancy all the way through to two weeks post-natally.

Hannah Bird - Clinical Midwifery Consultant

It brings that different level to the relationships that you have. We get to see them time and time again. We get to see them as their kids grow up. That's pretty special.

Southern NSW is a gorgeous place to live, it covers rural and regional, down to the coast and right up to the snowy mountains.

We've got lots of mountain biking, snowboarding or skiing, National Park in summer.

Hannah Bird - Clinical Midwifery Consultant

Fishing, kayaking, hiking, surfing. Yeah, you can do anything here.

Melaine Collins - Midwife, Goulburn Hospital

I love going for a walk down to the cafe, catching up with people friendly faces. It's a really nice culture, a really nice atmosphere. It takes me two minutes to get to work in the morning. I get to get home on time.

Ashleigh Peterson - Midwife, Moruya Hospital

Usually on my weekends or in the mornings before a shift I'll go for a surf with some friends. Take my little dog for a walk.

Laura Godkin - Midwife, Goulburn Hospital

It's easy to unwind with a quick walk into nature, there's lots of lookouts and local walkways to enjoy.

We're flexible with hours, if you want to have the best of both worlds, then it's a really good place to be.

Southern NSW offers incentive scheme for midwives who decide to make that sea change and move to Southern.

Hannah Bird - Clinical Midwifery Consultant

It doesn't need to be a barrier for making that change and coming to the area.

Katherine Stock - Midwife, Queanbeyan Hospital

I love working in a small hospital, we do really big things in a very small space and it works really well.

Sheree Barr - Midwifery Unit Manager

Come to Southern.

Ashleigh Peterson - Midwife, Moruya Hospital

Come to Southern.

Rebekah Bowman - District Midwifery Manager

Come to Southern.

Hannah Bird - Clinical Midwifery Consultant

Come for a career find a home.

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[On-screen text: Explore our careers]

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[On-screen text: 100 years of progress. International Day of the Midwife.]

Rebekah Bowman - Director of Midwifery

Hello, my name is Bek Bowman and I am lucky enough to be the District Midwifery Manager for Southern NSW and this District s a beautiful area of Australia that covers 5 different maternity sites. where midwives are providing exceptional care to women and also to other sites where midwives are providing antenatal and postnatal care.

International Day of the Midwife happens on the 5th of May and it's always a point of time that I really enjoy celebrating this wonderful profession. Being a midwife is the best job in the world.

We have the honor of witnessing the birth of a new person to the planet and I think even more importantly, we have the privilege of witnessing the birth of a new mother. so our work is actually really quite profound and it's not always just about birth of course because all of the antenatal work that midwives do leading up to that transitional rite of passage is really powerful in, in influencing how that birth goes.

Postnatal time is, is so important as well, so how lucky are we to work in this space every day. Plato said that it is the greatest privilege of a human life to witness the birth of a soul.

I really want to say thank you to all of the midwives in Southern NSW. I know that the work that you do, day in, day out and at 2am in the morning is, is so important for every woman that walks through our maternity services and I know that they will remember you for the rest of their lives and that's pretty special.