The expanded midwifery team at Hauora Hokianga’s Te Ao Mārāma and some of their clients.
The expanded midwifery team at Hauora Hokianga’s Te Ao Mārāma and some of their clients.
As the country faces a chronic healthcare worker shortage, with midwives particularly in demand, a Far North health provider has managed to double it’s midwifery workforce to meet the needs of pregnant women in the Hokianga.
Hauora Hokianga has entered the new year with a full roster of midwives to look after pregnant women in the area.
According to the New Zealand College of Midwives Chief Executive, Alison Eddy, the midwifery workforce has the largest relative deficit of all workforces in the country with a 40 per cent shortage.
However, during this healthcare worker crisis the Hauora Hokianga Midwifery team doubled in size - the Hokianga Te Ao Mārāma now has four permanent qualified midwives and one casual midwife.
Te Ao Mārāma is Hauora Hokianga’s integrated maternity service for the 120 pregnant wāhine who are cloaked under the care of the midwifery team on an annual basis. Te Ao Marama is a shining light for a high-need community due to geographic isolation, connectivity and health issues.
Midwifery leaders Don Ballard and Colleen Brown have brought thousands of pēpi into the world and have been steering the waka at Te Ao Mārāma for many years. One of the highlights for the new year has been the arrival of Annika Reid, Elisha Shepherd and Mihi to the team.
Succession is really important to Hauora Hokianga and Ballard is elated that ‘we now have a sustainable workforce that will provide that cover and care’ for years to come.
The Te Ao Mārāma midwives take a team approach to their care, women get to know them all. This is a sustainable way of being and allows for a good work-life balance. This team arrangement allows for different ideas, perspectives and everyone bringing something different to the table.
As they say in the unit, ‘you get four for the price of one.’
Hauora Hokianga’s Te Ao Mārāma unit is fully staffed, despite a nationwide chronic midwife shortage
According to Charles Royal ‘Tihē mauriora, Ki te whai ao, ki Te Ao Mārāma’ is kōrero which is often said on marae and translates to ‘The breath, the energy of life, to the dawnlight, to the world of light.’ Hauora Hokianga’s newly renovated maternity facilities offer a safe space and haven for Hokianga pēpi to enter the world.
The larger team and amazing facilities mean there is more flexibility to provide an elevated level of care.
At-risk women can stay at Te Ao Mārāma for longer periods and get those support services wrapped around them, something that rarely happens elsewhere. The Hokianga Health Trust awhi the community in this way, providing options for people when they need them.
‘’You are part of the whole hapūtanga. You share in all of that so it makes it really important mahi that you are doing,’’ Ballard said.
The team also deliver the Hine Koopu programme which is a free Te Ao Māori-focused birthing and parenting programme.
‘You really notice the difference for our whānau who have been, they are just way more confident when they come into their birthing.’
There has been a real focus on trying to set some things in place that are long lasting, and establishing a service that will stay in the community.
Classified as remote rural, midwifery in the Hokianga is not without its challenges. Annika describes travelling up to 500km in a week, that’s the equivalent of a Hokianga to Rotorua trip. The work area is expansive and the caseload is large but Annika states that although she travels large distances the scenery is beautiful. The team is on call 24/7 when they are on duty and have to be out in all weather.
During Cyclone Gabrielle they stayed at the hospital as there was no phone coverage. Now with two on during a shift they have back-up and can swap out and take breaks.
The Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora Health Workforce Plan predicts that New Zealand needs to triple the number of midwives it trains for four years to address the current workforce deficit and even then, it will not close the gap until 2031 when they graduate.
Hauora Hokianga midwifery by numbers:
■ 226 women booked for care, 113 women birthed in the care of Te Ao Marama midwives, 37 women birthed at Te Ao Mārāma, 17 women birthed at home
■ 54 women birthed in Whangārei and five women birthed elsewhere.
■ Caseload for the midwives employed was a total of nine women a month.
■ 663 postnatal (after-birth) visits recorded, somewhat more provided.
■ All māmā who birthed at Te Ao Marama were breastfeeding on discharge.
Mike Dinsdale is the editor of the Northland Age who also covers general news for the Advocate. He has worked in Northland for almost 34 years and loves the region.
