[ozmidwifery] QLD Rally

[Mrs Joanne M Fisher]

With QLD elections looming next week, Maternity Coalition Queensland, Friends of the Birth Centre, Association for Improvement in Maternity Services and Home Midwifery Association, staged a Rally in front of the State Government Executive Building to ask the Premier for better birth care choices for Queensland women.  Of course he didn't come but key members were invited to speak to one of his representatives after the Rally.  They were given a straw broom to make some "sweeping" changes and given a list of changes that need to be made by QLD Health i.e. for birth care policies including the following principles:   -         Informed Choice � providing women with evidence-based information, and supporting their choices.   -         One to one midwifery care � choice of a known midwife caring for each woman during pregnancy, birth and early motherhood, in collaboration with other health professionals.   -         Community based services � providing care in the communities where women live.   -         Consumer representation � central role for consumers in policy development and service design, implementation and delivery.   -         Education � improved community education to support informed choices in pregnancy, birth and early parenting.        -    Accountability � full and timely disclosure of outcome statistics from all health facilities.   Though the media were there, we didn't get much air time on the news tonight.  There were probably 100 people plus their gorgeous children.  We are pretty happy with the way it went today.   Cheers, Joanne  ----- Original Message ----- From: Denise Hynd To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 6:42 PM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] QLD Midwives What rally in Brisbane?? Denise ----- Original Message ----- From: Lynne Staff To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 7:03 AM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] QLD Midwives Hi Joanne I think you'll find that homebirth is considered along the same lines as the Black Death in QLD by maternity care policy makers and providers! Still, there are many mothers, fathers and midwives working to change that. See for example the rally today in Bris. We welcome more people to help us to make community care a reality. Cheers, Lynne ----- Original Message ----- From: Mrs Joanne M Fisher To: Ozmidwifery Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 11:41 AM Subject: [ozmidwifery] QLD Midwives Hi there QLD Midwives,   I'm a midwife working in Queensland, and active in Maternity Coalition here. I recently observed/studied at the Community Midwifery Program WA for six weeks (Feb/March 2003), and would love to work in a similar model here. We are trying to develop a network of midwives interested in doing caseload/small team midwifery in Qld, while we work hard at advocating for this sort of reform. If this is of any interest, or you would like to be kept informed, please email me on [EMAIL PROTECTED]   Cheers Joanne