The Wānaka Maternity Hub opened in May; in June a primary birthing unit was confirmed for the town; and now, in the latest positive news for Wānaka midwifery services, two new midwives are joining the Wānaka Midwives team. 

Wānaka Midwives said it had historically struggled to retain its community midwives, and the town’s distance from a base hospital brings challenges for both midwives and families, but new changes were helping build sustainable midwifery in Wānaka.

“With support from the Southern District Health Board (SDHB), and growing our new midwives through Otago Polytechnic, we are now seeing the benefits in building sustainable midwifery to provide maternity care to our birthing families,” Wānaka Midwives said in a statement.

Katy Christian recently joined Wānaka Midwives and Emily Sancha will come on board in February next year. 

Katy told the Wānaka App she hoped her new role would help to take some of the pressure off fellow midwives Deb Harvey and Peta Hosking. 

“As a team we can provide back-up to each other to ensure a safe level of midwifery care is always available to Wānaka families, along with being able to give each other defined time off which is also important to sustaining yourself as an LMC [lead maternity carer] midwife.”

“This will be increased even more when Emily joins Wānaka Midwives next year.”

Katy studied midwifery at Otago Polytechnic, a degree Emily is currently finishing ahead of joining Wānaka Midwives.

“I’ve almost finished my second placement and was delighted when [Wānaka Midwives] asked if I would like to join their practice next year,” Emily said. “They’re highly experienced in rural midwifery and I’m really looking forward to working with them.”

SDHB rural health service manager Debi Lawry said the health board was delighted to see the midwifery service in Wānaka move from “strength to strength”.

The health board had leased the Wānaka Maternal Hub facility, funded a service coordinator, supported the cost of consumables and some equipment, and provided a locum for a few days per month.

The primary birthing unit the SDHB was creating was also “well underway”, Debi said. 

When the SDHB partners with health providers like midwives, sometimes that support isn’t sufficient to meet their needs, she said.

“However, in Wānaka the midwifery group has been able to leverage this support, and through their hard work and dedication to the community, managed to grow and prosper,” she said.

“SDHB wants to acknowledge that the midwives in Wānaka have put the hard yards in place to grow maternity care for women and their whanau in Wānaka. Their support of new midwives coming into the area has been outstanding, and is a large part of their success story.”

PHOTO: Supplied