Taranaki meetings for potential midwifery students

11 October 2012

Most people know what a midwife is; she is the registered health professional who can provide care for women during pregnancy, during the labour and birth of her baby, and who then cares for the mother and baby for the first 4 to 6 weeks after birth.

What a lot of local people don’t know, though, is that you can train as a midwife in Taranaki! In the past, women had to move to one of the major centres to enroll as a student midwife. However AUT University now runs a small satellite programme based in New Plymouth, with significant support from Taranaki District Health Board. Through the use of modern technologies students can remain living with their families in the province, and be a part of lectures coming out of AUT University’s North Shore campus. The students undertake most of their clinical placements locally, and are supported by a Taranaki-based midwife lecturer, Tricia Thompson, who has returned to the province to run this AUT Taranaki satellite.

For many years there has been a shortage of midwives in the province, and TDHB understood that by training local women locally, that would mean those midwives were likely to stay and be committed to their home region. Thus this local satellite option was created. The first local students from the satellite are nearing completion of their course, and having the first local graduates will be an exciting milestone for midwifery in the province.

This month there will be a series of meetings around the province for women who are interested in the possibility of training as a midwife through the AUT Taranaki satellite. The meetings will explain what requirements potential students need to be accepted into the course, and be a chance for them to find out what is involved in the training, and to ask any questions.

For more details, contact Tricia Thompson, Midwifery lecturer, AUT Taranaki satellite, 021 907 342, tricia.thompson@aut.ac.nz or come to a meeting:

New Plymouth: Thursday 18th October, 7pm, at the new Plunket rooms, corner Devon and Weymouth Streets, New Plymouth;
Hawera: Tuesday 23rd October, 7pm, at the Conference Room, Hawera Hospital, Hunter St, Hawera;
Stratford: Tuesday 30th October, 7pm, in the lounge at Elizabeth R Maternity complex, 30 Elizabeth Grove, Stratford.

Last updated: Thursday, October 11, 2012