|
We are all excitedly getting the FBC stall ready for this year's PBS Expo - 17-19 June 2016. Have a look at our raffle in the FBC website shop and make sure you stop by to see us on the weekend.  So here we are for Day 2 of the Pregnancy, Babies & Children's Expo for 2015! We had an amazing day yesterday, and so much fun meeting all of the new and expectant mums who were there to soak up as much information as possible! We are having a blast, and we would love you to join us! If you are looking for something fun to do this weekend, the expo is on all day today and tomorrow at the Convention and Exhibition Centre at Southbank...come on in and say hi!!  We have some amazing, generous sponsors who have donated some wonderful prizes for you to win in our Raffle. We certainly are blessed to have such support from local businesses, and we appreciate it so much. Their generosity, and all of you who purchase tickets in our Raffles, enable us to continue the work that we do, so we would like to say a very heartfelt thank you to you all. Now, I know you are excited to find out what you can win! 1st Prize: Spectra Breast Pump & $80 Small Print Jewellery Voucher 2nd Prize: Doterra Diffuser & Oils from Susan the Oil Goddess, PLUS a Pedicure Voucher with Bridget Emily Beauty 3rd Prize: $100 Go Mum! Fitness Voucher For more details on prizes, simply click here. So, I know you want to get your hands on some of these great prizes, but how? Easy, just click here to purchase your Raffle Tickets - simple as that! And we hope to see you at our booth at the Pregnancy, Babies & Children's Expo from June 19-21 at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre!  What is an Eligible Private Practice Midwife or EPPM as they are are known? And what does that have to do with Friends of the Birth Centre?!
In May 2014, after many years of work done before us by other consumer groups and midwives the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital started getting serious about the call from women wanting a private midwife to be with them from the beginning of their pregnancy all the way through the birth and for post natal support up to 6 weeks. Friends of the Birth Centre were invited by the RBWH Executives to start attending the working party to provide valuable input from the point of view of a consumer, a mother. After months and months of meetings which the lovely Anna, from the FBC Consumer Representation group happily attended, the negotiations, legalities, concerns and a whole lot more were addressed and completed. A whole year later in May 2015 the new model of care – care from an EPPM at the RBWH - was launched by the Queensland State Health Minister, Honorable Cameron Dick. http://www.health.qld.gov.au/rbwh/docs/eppm-contacts.pdf Who was the first mum to birth through this new model of care at RBWH? A woman had been excluded from attending the Birth Centre for her second birth (due to complexity) wanted to have continuity of care similar to her first birth in the Birth Centre was the first woman to have a baby through this model. Having the EPPM model will allow women, who loved their first Birth Centre experience, or want the Birth Centre for the first time for continuity of care even if that are not eligible to have care in the birth centre to have Continuity of Care. We are admitted as private patients, but do not need to have Private Health Insurance. For most people around half the cost of care is covered by Medicare and of course those who have Private Health Insurance will obtain a full rebate for care to the scheduled fee. Psst. and did you know if meet the low risk requirements of Birth Centre Continuity of Care you may just get to use that very special, homelike space which Friends of the Birth Centre keep looking so beautiful.  Each of us come to the Friends Of The Birth Centre after a life changing event which changes how we see ourselves and prioritise our lives. In the months after having your baby you process your birth experience, discover the human limit of sleep deprivation only to push beyond it, read endless pages of conflicting advice, celebrate with friends and family and quietly weep at the struggle and angst of such profound responsibility. In this turbulent time you may feel energised and impassioned to make a difference (other than creating a brand new human being) and that’s when we want to pounce! You see we have a not so hidden agenda, we want you to join our organisation and share in the many rewarding and sometimes tedious tasks which allow us to keep supporting and spreading the vital message that non invasive continuity of care in birth is available for FREE! Why aren’t there queues of mothers outside the Birth Centre?! We need a marching band!
We can’t wait to hear from you.  Now that we have had a chance to recover from what was such a fun day, we would like to take this opportunity to extend our thanks to everyone involved in making our 20th Birthday Celebrations - Family Fun Day such a success.
Here goes!
We would also like to thank our Stall holders for participating:
We are also immensely grateful to Di Farmer, who attended as the representative for the Premier and Minister for Women. And I am sure you would all agree that a MASSIVE thank you is due to ALL of the amazing Midwives who came on the day. It made the event that much more special to be able to share it with the wonderful women who are so much a part of our birth stories. Thank you again to all who were involved (we hope we haven't missed anyone!), and we hope you all enjoyed the day as much as we did!  We would love to thank everyone who attended and supported us at the event on Saturday, and we sincerely hope you had as good a time as we did! A special thank you to everyone who supported our Raffle, and a big Congratulations to our winners! Raffle Prizes$1500 Photography package from Tanya Love Photography - Won by Janet $100 voucher from Go Mum! Group Fitness. - Won by Catherine Photo Competition
Dayna Kiel (Photo by Etta Photography) and Shan Bell were the lucky winners of the Endota Spa Vouchers! Congratulations again ladies! The below article is written by the lovely Karen Marshall, one of the two founding Birth Centre Midwives. Through the course of preparations for Friends of the Birth Centre's 20 year Celebrations, we have uncovered some very interesting information, however one thing has always remained constant - the women of South East Queensland worked together to make the Birth Centre a reality, and 20 years on, we are still united in our cause. We would like to thank Karen for sharing this amazing account below: RBWH Birth Centre & Friends of the Birth Centre - A HistoryBy Karen Marshall The Birth Centre at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital was set up in early 1995, originally a small Birth Centre consisting of 4 rooms which was situated at the end of Ward M17 in the old Royal Women’s Hospital. It originated out of community lobbying for a family-centred birthing unit after the closure of Boothville Hospital (a small private hospital at Windsor which offered private GP or Obstetric care within a homely environment which included a large postnatal room where families stayed after the new baby’s birth) . At the time staff restructuring meant one charge position in the RWH Labour Ward was to go, and Margaret Fien who was Joint Charge Midwife in the RWH Labour Ward was asked by the late Rhonda Middleton (Nursing Director RWH) to look into the feasibility of setting up a Birth Centre at RWH. After some research and visits to some recently established Birth Centre in Southern States, a proposal for a Birth Centre was taken to the Hospital Board and approved. The princely some of $17,000 was allocated and renovations commenced. Two three bed bays where converted to single rooms, a normal size bath was added to the room, and bathroom given a very basic revamp and the two now birth centre room were furnished. Two single rooms were converted to a lounge room/parents room area and an office/antental visiting room. Both of these rooms kept the original shower/toilet within the room. The rooms were equipped mostly from begging /borrowing and imaginative discovery from other areas. The Early Years
A few of these women birthed in the Labour Ward with Marg and I, but finally on 12th June 1995 , the first baby was born at the Birth Centre (Holly Williams). Both Marg and I were present for Holly’s birth and were ecstatic to be offering families continuity of care with a known midwife. A couple of GP’s (Maria Nandam and Charlie Elliot) who had used Boothville for their clients also had access to the birth centre and a few families who had previously birthed with these GP’s used this option (in conjunction with Birth Centre midwives) for their care. With the next year mostly from word of mouth, this model of care became very popular and more midwives, Renee Coker, Jane Stanfield and Meredyth Sauer joined the Birth Centre with Cia Moroney recruited as holiday reliever. Places at the Birth Centre became sort after and a ballot system was established, and a waiting list was in place. The Birth Centre continued with these midwives, (Marg, Renee, Jane, Meredyth, Cia and myself) for a number of years and operated on a pure caseload midwifery model with each midwife allocated their own clients. A few women also attended using private obstetric care ( in conjunction with Birth Centre midwives) in the early years.  Birth Centre Midwife Jo Fisher, with Birth Centre Mum Bec, and her daughter The Start of Friends of the Birth CentreSensing that this new model of care would need consumer support, a public meeting was called by the midwives, and from this consumer meeting, Friends of the Birth Centre came into being in 1995 and has continued since offering parent groups, lobby groups ,consumer representation and fundraising. The original Birth Centre continued to operate at the end of Ward M17 (women who had complications in labour had to be transferred across a long walkway to the main building which housed the labour ward ) and another 3 bed room was commandeered from M17 and a third birth room was added around 1998, this time with a big round bath. The Birth Centre had been offering water immersion in labour since its inception and water births since 26th May 1996 when Cara Wass birthed her daughter Zoe in the ordinary bath. In the early years women stayed in the Birth Centre for 24 hours after birth, thus the two birth rooms were often being used and a number of babies were born in the parents lounge bathrooms, on a mattress on the office floor, or in the shower in the office/consulting room, (any place which had privacy) when women arrived in very established labour and there was no time to vacate the birth rooms. In 2003 with the building of a new hospital, the old RWH was closed down and eventually demolished, and the Royal Women’s Hospital was amalgamated with the Royal Brisbane Hospital to become the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and a new Birth Centre was opened in this new hospital, this time with 4 birth rooms, 2 dedicated consulting rooms, a parents lounge and a staff office, and continues in this space currently. The Birth Centre Today
three midwives and the addition of a small group team in the last few years.
It is testament to the model of care that that there tends to be longevity in years of service to the birth centre, with many of the midwives staying for long periods of their careers. Currently many of the midwives (Anne Clarke, Tania Nairn, Marion Lengronne, Elaine Barrett, Jo Fisher ) have more then 10 years of service at the Birth Centre. I have been privileged to be part of this team since with Birth Centre’s inception in 1995 and have cared for many families at the Birth Centre in this time, a number of whom have birthed 3 and 4 children at the Birth Centre. It is difficult to estimated how many births I have attended at the Birth Centre (probably around 800) but it has been an honour to be able to be part of such a team of wonderful midwives over the last 20 years. Karen Marshall Are you joining us to celebrate our 20th Birthday this Saturday? Our Family Fun Day kicks off at 9am this Saturday, 2nd May, and we would love for you to join us! You can find out all of the details here. In addition to our fantastic Raffle and Lucky Door prizes, we are also running a photo competition - how does a day of pampering at Endota Spa sound? See below for all of the details, and good luck!  Are you looking for a way to help serve your community? Would it be a bonus if you could get paid for it? Health Consumers Queensland (HCQ) is committed to allowing women to use their voice and provide community & consumer perspectives on topics that affect our community. As women, and mothers within our community, it is easy to get caught up in the busy nature of our day to day lives, as we try and juggle home and work responsibilities, as well as taking the time to enjoy our family and social life. It is however, our ability and experience juggling all of these roles, that makes us uniquely qualified to provide important insights and opinions on topics that affect our community.  Become a Consumer RepresentativeHCQ are currently seeking expressions of interest from Metro North Hospital and Health Service (MNHHS) for two representatives for two different committees.
But What is Involved?Click on the links below, to read the Role Statements, as well as Terms of Reference. Metro North Women’s & Children’s Stream Steering CommitteeRBWH Women and Newborns Service Line Executive Group (SEG)How To ApplyHealth consumers and community members who would like to express interest in joining this committee need to:
Expression of Interest: Metro North Women’s & Children’s Stream Steering Committee Expression of Interest: RBWH Women and Newborns Service Line Executive Group (SEG) If you have any further questions about these positions please contact Melissa on 07 3316 2917 or melissa.fox@hcq.org.au |
AuthorOur FBC Committee Members will keep you updated on the various fundraising, consumer representative and information events they participate in during the year. Archives
April 2023
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed