The All-Ireland Maternity and Midwifery Trailblazer Awards celebrated winners and commendees on the 18th April. The Awards recognised outstanding achievement and commitment to maternity and midwifery services over the past year across All-Ireland.
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Narrowcast Media Group produced, filmed and live streamed the Awards Ceremony on the day. You can watch back the ceremony on-demand today and catch up on all of the action from the day that you may have missed.
Watch the ceremony (below) and take a look back at some of the best photos from the day in this article.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Midwifery Practice Team Trailblazer Award
Susan Stitt and Jacqueline Dorrian
Bereavement Midwives
Forget me not Bereavement Team
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
Susan and Jacqueline are The Forget Me Not Bereavement Team, available 7 days a week to provide care to bereaved families and empower teams to provide high quality, parent-centred, empathic and safe bereavement care through a range of innovative approaches.
They have liaised with Lisburn and Castlereagh Council to build a ‘Forget-me-Not Wood’: a dedicated place where families can plant trees to remember the babies and pregnancies that have been lost.
The team is currently working to provide a ‘Forget me not’ library where books specifically related to bereavement can be borrowed by parents and siblings and kept or donated and passed on to another family to help them in their grief.
WINNER
Midwifery Practice Leader Trailblazer Award
Mrs. Katherine Robinson
Team Leader
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
Katherine Robinson is the manager of the South Eastern HSC Trust Alongside Midwifery Led Unit. Within this unit there have been more than 5,000 water births over 11 years.
Katherine is the most experienced midwife in Ireland in relation to teaching and providing water birth. She has taught at a number of academic institutions across Ireland and the UK and has supported hospitals in Drogheda and Dublin to train midwives to provide waterbirth.
Katherine is passionate about women’s choices regarding place of birth, informed choice and consent and women’s rights during childbirth. She goes above and beyond every day for the women and families that use our services and is an excellent role model and manager.
She is so deserving of this prize for service to midwifery and specifically water birth provision in Ireland.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Midwifery Practice Leader Trailblazer Award
Mary Curtin
Assistant Professor/Lecturer in Midwifery
University College Dublin
Mary demonstrates excellence in midwifery education. She is regularly engaged in clinical practice in a linked clinical partner site where students have placements. Mary has embraced innovation in teaching and assessment methods in her modules, including peer and self-assessment and debating a topical/controversial aspect of midwifery philosophy or identity.
WINNER
Midwifery Education Trailblazer Award
Dr. Rhona O’Connell
Midwifery lecturer
University College Cork
Rhona received several nominations, with one saying: Rhona is an incredible, lecturer and wonderful woman who has dedicated her career to progressing midwifery. We cannot possibly summarise her entire contribution and how deserving she is of such an award.
Rhona is a great motivator and true believer in empowering student midwives to fulfil their potential in caring and supporting women in the maternity services. Rhona once broke her arm before clinical assessments and performed the assessment before taking herself to A&E – dedication!
Rhona always wants the women and infants in our services to get the best care. She played an integral role in changing care and experiences for women and pregnant people throughout the south of Ireland. Along with this, she has published many articles, reviews, and studies, and is involved in national policy development promoting choice and midwifery-led care for women in Ireland. She has also been an active member of our national union supporting staff for many years.
Her dedication and wisdom has touched so many. She is retiring this year and we can think of no better send off to acknowledge this passionate woman.
WINNER
Student Midwife Trailblazer Award
Ms.Tegan Kavanagh
Midwifery Student – Year 4
University College Dublin
Tegan has demonstrated a commitment to excellence since starting her BSc midwifery degree programme nearly four years ago. She has co-authored two published articles with different members of the midwifery faculty in UCD.
The first article co-authored was on the topic of neonatal hypoglycaemia and the second was, on the care & management during labour & birth of twins.
Tegan demonstrates kindness, gentleness, and a firm commitment to women-centred care.
A very bright future is predicted for the profession with midwifery students like Tegan as a role model for colleagues and other midwifery students.
WINNERS
Leadership Trailblazer Award
Helen McLoughlin, Director of Midwifery and
Bernadette Keogh, Clinical practice co-ordinator (acting),
Wexford General Hospital
When a fire broke out at Wexford General Hospital on 1 March, Helen McLoughlin, Bernadette Keogh and their team came together to ensure that the maternity services were the first to reopen. The midwifery management team turned this around in 24 hours and the would entire midwifery workforce in WGH are commended for their reaction and work to open services in the area again so quickly.
The students had their clinical placement minimally disrupted. There were two students on duty at the time. The student’s stayed at home on Thursday 2nd March and were back on duty on Friday 3rd March!
The duty of care that was given to the students was excellent and Helen McLoughlin and the entire midwifery workforce who supported the students in their clinical placement and minimised any disruption for them are commended.
