The nurses and midwives recognised for improving healthcare in Australia
Winners of the 2024 HESTA Australian Nursing & Midwifery Awards were announced in Melbourne last night, and they include a nurse and midwife from Victoria, as well as a New South Wales-based organisation.
The widely recognised awards are now in their 18th year and acknowledge the outstanding contribution of Australia’s nurses, midwives, nurse educators, researchers and personal care workers’ dedication to improving health outcomes.
HESTA CEO Debby Blakey said she’s proud of the “exceptional contributions, care and compassion” that the winners and finalists have shown “to those they help daily”.
“We had hundreds of outstanding nominations for the Nursing & Midwifery Awards this year. It’s fantastic to highlight the sheer dedication and high calibre of work taken on by nursing and midwifery professionals around Australia.”
The winners will equally share a prize pool of $30,000, courtesy of longstanding awards supporter ME, to be used for professional development or to improve services or processes.
Nurse of the Year
Recognised as ‘Nurse of the Year’ was Cathy Halmarick, a nurse and midwife from Peninsula Health who helped establish the Sexual and Reproductive Health Hub in Southeastern Victoria, which ensured access to sexual health services for the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
When she identified that many women were finding the intra-uterine device (IUD) process painful, she initiated the use of a ‘green whistle’ (methoxyflurane inhaler) to reduce women’s pain experience with excellent results.
Cathy Halmarick
Halmarick has over 25 years of experience in healthcare and plans to use the award’s prize money for further study, focusing on pain management for people undergoing gynaecological procedures in the outpatient setting. The team will also use the money to purchase an ultrasound machine.
“Sexual and reproductive health is an area of an individual’s health that is often overlooked for various reasons, including time and financial constraints, lack of knowledge, and clinic availability,” Halmarick said, noting that being recognised for her work in the space was a “lovely surprise”.
Midwife of the Year
Skye Stewart from Red Nose Australia was named ‘Midwife of the Year’, saying that “to be recognised with this award means I’ve paid attention to where it matters, and I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. The award is a privilege, and I feel incredibly honoured and humbled”.
Skye is recognised for creating the nation’s first stillbirth support guide (Jiba Pepeny: Star Baby) for Aboriginal families, having seen the unacceptable gap in stillbirth rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and the impact it left on communities.
Skye Stewart
She travelled more than 32,000 kilometres over 20 months to communities across the country to ensure the stillbirth guide was as relevant as possible to the lived experience of Aboriginal families.
With the awards’ prize money, Skye plans to print a children’s book and a suite of resources for families, siblings, and children affected by stillbirth, another first of its kind, supporting Aboriginal children at this difficult time.
Outstanding organisation
The Healthy Communities Foundation Australia was recognised as the Organisation of the Year for improving access to primary healthcare services in remote and Aboriginal communities.
The organisation has also established the Dhirri-li Education for Work Centre to train Aboriginal people for entry-level roles in the health and social care system.
The Healthy Communities Foundation Australia
Cassie Talbot, Registered Nurse and Manager of Healthy Minds, Healthy Communities, and The National Rural & Remote Suicide Prevention Program, said it was an incredible honour to be recognised.
“They’re a nursing team I am proud to nurse alongside. This recognition highlights the critical roles that nurses and midwives play in society, especially in our rural and remote communities,” said Talbot.
The team plans to use the prize money to support their nursing team, ensuring staff are well-trained and well-resourced to increase their ability to support rural and remote communities in NSW.
The post The nurses and midwives recognised for improving healthcare in Australia appeared first on Women's Agenda.
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