Elizabeth Bishop
Today the world at large, looks at medical workers as an inspiration. What inspired you to take up this noble profession?
I had been working as a nurse in Emergency and Chemotherapy outpatients – as much as I loved my nursing work I realised I wanted to have more opportunity to develop positive relationships with the people I cared for and it was time for a change! I had an amazingly positive birth experience with my third daughter making Midwifery the natural choice, I have never looked back.
Nursing and midwifery is a selfless job, working long and odd hours. How do you balance work and family? How do you de-stress?
The work is exhausting at times but the absolute joy of supporting a women through a birth is an enormous “buzz”. I love spending time in nature and use my daily morning dog walk on the beautiful, ever-changing Mount Majura to de-stress.
Given the current situation with COVID-19, do you have any stories of ingenuity, support, compassion and kindness?
The magnificent team I work within have been providing lots of reassurance to women during the Covid-19 preparations. To reduce hospital presentations, outpatient appointments have been undertaken via Zoom and in women’s home. Parent education classes have also been successfully run via “Zoom” with couples still being able to connect and makes plans as a group of new parents to get together after they have all given birth and the crisis has settled.
What is your advice to the younger generation who would like to pursue a career in nursing/midwifery?
I would fully support anyone interested in pursuing a career in Midwifery – the work is highly rewarding and provides many opportunities for satisfying employment in many different capacities.