Released 09/05/2019
It’s a wrap for the 2019 Nursing and Midwifery Excellence awards with a melanoma and skin cancer specialist nurse from the Canberra Hospital, a clinical development midwife from Calvary Public Hospital and the Childbirth Education Research Team taking home the Nurse, Midwife, and Team of the Year awards respectively.
Minister for Health and Wellbeing Meegan Fitzharris last night announced the winners in front of a crowd of 400 people, congratulating all the nurses and midwives on the amazing work they do looking after the Canberra community.
“Nurse of the year is Christine Archer, a melanoma and skin cancer specialist nurse at Canberra Hospital Services (CHS). Christine’s dedication to the nursing profession and melanoma research extends over 20 years, 17 of which have been dedicated to cancer nursing.
“Midwife of the Year goes to Sally McRae, a registered midwife from Calvary Public Hospital Bruce. Sally has been instrumental in the introduction of two parent programs that have a focus on positive parenting, one of which is the Bringing Baby Home workshop. Sally’s commitment to improving a woman’s child birth journey is evident through the education programs she conducts to enhance knowledge and resilience in midwives.
“Team of the Year is the Childbirth Education Research Team at Canberra Hospital Services for their excellence in the Quality Improvement Activity or Research Practice. The team has led a re-design of the Childbirth Education Program at Centenary Hospital for Women and Children, and has conducted an evidence-based program to educate staff and improve outcomes for the women and newborns in their care.”
Minister Fitzharris praised the work nurses and midwives do and the great impact they make in the lives of people in our community.
“Congratulations to our winners this year. We really do have the most amazing nurses and midwives working in our public health system.
“Nurses, midwives and our allied health professionals predominantly engage with the public in clinical settings – in our hospitals, walk-in centres and our maternity and child health clinics. They are often a calming presence in highly stressful situations and they consistently deliver high quality, people-centred, health care,” Minister Fitzharris said.
The Minister also took an opportunity to highlight the ACT Government’s commitment to improving the workplace health and safety of nurses and midwives, following the release of the Towards a Safer Culture – First Step Strategy.
“While we are driving a people-centred health care system, we are also urging the public to be people-minded when engaging with our nurses and midwives. We do urge the public to look after and respect our nursing and midwifery staff as they do their jobs looking after patients and families every day,” Minister Fitzharris said.
- Statement ends -
Meegan Fitzharris, MLA | Media Releases
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