Jo, we must have been sisters in a past life! What's the motto? Educate, motivate and agitate? What ever it is you're doing, keep doin' it!!
In consumer sisterhood, Jodie On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 07:08 pm, Jo & Dean Bainbridge wrote: > I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their > replies and thoughts on the topics that I have suggested and those that > have spawned off of topics. > > The thing that I love most about oz mid is the discussions > offer food for thought. > > As a consumer I am in a position where I can sit back and observe what is > going on. It is important for me to be able to listen to the opinions of > care providers and hear what your experiences are. And then do the same > from the women. I understand the need for consumers to push for change > (and support the MC in their goals to achieve 1to1 care by a known midwife > for those who want it.) but I also know how crucial it is to unite with > those who are willing to offer these services. Women I feel kind of know > what they want or don't want based on what they know. It is a shame that > all options are not known/presented or offered. Reading the Essential Baby > cs forum is a real eye opener to hear the opinions of women who chose their > cs based on 'safety and facts' (god forbid you contradict what they say or > even question it...! I once said that they should be mindful of the > information they give to women as it is not always applicable or even > correct for some -most- women reading this forum... I was 'slammed' with > hate mail for weeks and the best bit was a comment that I was "obviously a > midwife" with the same tone you would use for a horrible type of infection > or something!....some midwife must of pissed her off!!) > > There is a conference coming up in Adelaide which is focusing on midwifery > things...water birth, etc and I am very glad to hear that we were > successful in getting free admission for the general public on one of those > days. It is fine and dandy to get mw enthused to introduce things like > water birth, but the powers that be say "women don't want it" but women > don't know about it!!! By not involving women in these sorts of things does > nothing to help the cause. Get women involved in things - ask them if they > want to attend any conferences you may be planning...at little to no cost- > even if it is a revenue loss for you- because when both factions are > enthused and motivated then more can be done. > > Next time you are going to educate yourselves about something...ask some > mums to come too. See if you can, sneakily if required, introduce an > antenatal class on water birth and advertise it in a general public forum > and get women demanding it, echoing your call for it.... > > Ah! once again I am rambling on.....just task avoidance I suppose! Got a > few reports to write...unless anyone else would like to do them for?? They > are juicy ones!! PND links with child birth experience; Obstetric > procedure policies feed back; report on the importance of implementing 1on1 > midwifery care....any takers?? No?...oh well. cheers wonderful women > Jo -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
