The celebration of International Day of the Midwife at University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) focused on how local midwives have risen to the extraordinary challenge of Covid-19 to provide safe care to the women and infants of the Mid-West.
The event—with its 2020 theme of ‘Midwives with Women: Celebrate, Demonstrate, Mobilise, Unite—Our Time Is Now’— underlined how midwives in the Mid-West along with their colleagues across the country and around the world have undergone upskilling and retraining to developed safe pathways of care in the fight to protect women and babies during the pandemic.
While maternity care in the Mid-West has faced unprecedented challenges, and there will be none of the celebratory events traditionally held to mark the occasion, the International Day of the Midwife served as a prominent reminder of the importance of midwifery, and the invaluable care that midwives provide.
Special birth certificates were given to the mothers of all babies born in University Maternity Hospital Limerick on Tuesday, to mark the special bond between midwives at UMHL and the new mums of the Mid-West and their children.
UL Hospitals Group’s Director of Midwifery, Eileen Ronan, emphasised that since the middle of March and the national introduction of social and physical distancing in response to the Covid-19 emergency, normal service at UMHL has been largely uninterrupted, save for some restrictions to antenatal classes and visiting at the hospital.
“It’s appropriate that this year in particular, we use the platform of International Day of the Midwife not just to celebrate our successes and the importance of midwifery, but also to remind women of the midwifery care and services that are ever-present at UMHL throughout the extraordinary times we’re living through as a result the Covid-19 pandemic,” Ms Ronan said.
“While we of course encourage pregnant women to follow the HSE advice to comply with social and physical distancing, stay home, and wash your hands, we also want the public, and pregnant women and new mums in particular, to be aware that we continue to provide midwifery services for women throughout the Mid-West,” she added.
Dan Danaher
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.