A nurse and midwife from Victoria and a New South Wales-based organisation were crowned winners at the prestigious HESTA Australian Nursing & Midwifery Awards in Melbourne last night.
Nurse of the Year Cathy Halmarick from Peninsula Health was recognised for helping establish the Sexual and Reproductive Health Hub in Southeastern Victoria, ensuring access to sexual health services for the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Midwife of the Year Skye Stewart from Red Nose Australia was recognised for creating the nation's first stillbirth support guide for Aboriginal families, having seen the unacceptable gap in stillbirth rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and the impact on communities.
The Healthy Communities Foundation Australia was recognised as the Organisation of the Year for improving access to primary healthcare services in remote and Aboriginal communities. In addition to providing local access to health care, the organisation established the Dhirri-li Education for Work Centre to train Aboriginal people for entry-level roles in the health and social care system.
HESTA CEO Debby Blakey said the awards celebrated the outstanding contribution of nurses and midwives in Australia and were an important reminder of their critical work and impact on communities.
"Congratulations to our inspiring winners and finalists. I am so proud of their exceptional contributions, care and compassion shown to those they help daily," Ms Blakey said.
"We had hundreds of outstanding nominations for the Nursing & Midwifery Awards this year. It's fantastic to highlight the sheer dedication and high calibre of work taken on by nursing and midwifery professionals around Australia."
BOQ Group Executive of Retail Banking, Greg Boyle congratulated the winners and finalists on behalf of ME Bank.
"A big congratulations to these truly exceptional nurses, midwives, and personal care workers. Your exceptional efforts supporting those who need you deserve to be celebrated. On behalf of ME, thank you for your dedication, passion, and tireless work," Mr Boyle said.
The winners will equally share a prize pool of $30,000, courtesy of longstanding awards supporter ME, to be used for professional development or to improve services or processes.
The widely recognised awards - now in their 18th year - acknowledge the outstanding contribution of Australia's nurses, midwives, nurse educators, researchers, and personal care workers' dedication to improving health outcomes.
