Double Celebration for Lake’s District Hospital Midwives!

Double Celebration for Lake’s District Hospital Midwives!

Midwives at Lakes District Hospital will be celebrating two major events this coming week, signifying good news for local mums-to-be and their future families.

Staff at the Lakes Maternity Unit have successfully received approval from the New Zealand Breastfeeding Authority to renew their accreditation as a “Baby Friendly Hospital", under the Baby friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). This is a worldwide programme led by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, to strengthen the capacity of national health systems to protect and support breastfeeding.

A “Baby Friendly Hospital” is defined as a healthcare facility where the practitioners who provide care for women and babies adopt practices that aim to protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding from birth. At the same time, Baby Friendly facilities ensure that women who choose not to breastfeed are supported in their decision and provided with unbiased information and advice.

The hospital will officially celebrate its success at a ceremony to be held at Lakes District Hospital on Monday 4 May at 11:00am. This event marks a significant achievement by staff says Director of Midwifery for Southern DHB Jenny Humphries, “we have an outstanding team of midwives working at Lakes and this accreditation is a huge achievement by the team and a reflection of their ongoing commitment to ensuring all babies born locally get the best start in life. We received a glowing report about the service we deliver at Lakes, which is great news for the community. Well done team!”

BFHI is a quality tool which establishes standards of care and services are audited on these for accreditation on a three-yearly cycle. Lakes District Hospital first became a BFHI hospital in 2009 and again in 2012. The audit looks at facilities and policies that support breastfeeding and the facility must meet an exclusive breastfeeding rate of at least 75% at discharge. Lakes District Hospital reached a commendable 92% in 2014. Hospital staff have a strong commitment to providing culturally appropriate care and involve consumers at all levels, and recent feedback from women found that they enjoyed the ‘royal treatment’, ‘undivided attention’ and ‘very good treatment’ they received at Lakes. It was acknowledged that the maternity unit felt ‘warm’ and ‘homely’ with a good use of imagery to portray breastfeeding in a positive manner.

The event on Monday will be quickly followed by celebrations to mark International Midwives Day on Tuesday 5th May. This day provides an opportunity for women and midwives all over the world to unite and focus the world’s attention on the work of midwives. The theme this year is “Midwives: changing the world one family at a time.” Staff at Lakes Hospital will be combining forces with midwives and consumers across the district and celebrating the day in Wanaka.

The midwives have also started a new sub-committee of the New Zealand College of Midwives to address the specific needs of the women and families in our communities. The midwives of this region now gather every two months to discuss how to best support each other and the women they work with in this stunning but challenging location.

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