Community & Business
20 May, 2022
24 years of delivering with care
AFTER delivering thousands of babies over two decades, Mareeba Hospital midwife Wendy Hilless has been recognised for her outstanding service and passion for her work in and out of the ward, being awarded one of Australia’s midwives of the year.
Wendy first started her midwifery duties in 1998 but was working in the healthcare sector for much longer, being an assistant in nursing at a nursing home in 1989.
This was Wendy’s first experience in healthcare and caring for people, a profession she fell in love with and decided to pursue.
Wendy’s work outside of the maternity ward was also a major factor in her winning the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service Midwife of the Year award.
“I did my midwifery training in Recliffe in Brisbane and then worked in Darwin for 16 years then came here in 2016,” she said. “It was nothing at all what I wanted to do when I was at school, I went to uni and did an arts degree, finished that and didn’t like it. “I then worked as an assistant in nursing at a nursing home and thought, ‘I could do this gig’. “I love caring for people – it was fun and I got a lot of enjoyment out of it.”
Now with over two decades of experience as a midwife, Wendy has helped mothers like Asha Joubert deliver their babies in a safe and comfortable environment. Asha has delivered her third baby, nineweek- old Nienke, with the help of Wendy who helped deliver her two other children, Christiaan and Daniel.
“Being with Wendy for my third baby, you build up such a relationship and it is such an intimate relationship,” Asha said. “Wendy was there specifically to support me, which was awesome, especially for this one. “It was amazing that Wendy was able to say to me ‘it’s a girl’.”
Wendy said there is no better feeling than breaking the news of a baby’s sex to a mother, a moment she wishes she could “capture and bottle”.
“That moment, if you could bottle it and sell it – it is such an amazing experience,” she said. “We never say ‘oh you have got a girl or you have got a boy’, the baby is normally put skin to skin with the mums. “It is then a process of them exploring and finding out the sex of their baby, that is the moment that you wish you could bottle.”
Wendy was integral in getting the Mareeba Hospital to be baby friendly accredited, another key factor in her being awarded the Midwife of the Year Award.
The accreditation was happening on Nienke’s birthday and Wendy was able to be there for the birth, a moment she didn’t want to miss.
