Aim
To create a better journey with better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children and families by offering:
- their own midwife who will provide antenatal care, will be on call for labour and birth and provide postnatal care for up to six weeks
- a child health nurse who will provide care from six weeks until your jarjum is two
- a health worker who will support the delivery of culturally safe care and navigation through the healthcare system.
Outcomes
- improved low birth weights
- increased numbers of mothers choosing to breastfeed
- reduction in premature births and higher attendances for antenatal appointments
Background
Waijungbah Jarjums was developed in partnership with Kalwun Health Services and the Yugambeh Region Aboriginal Corporation Alliance to build a service that meets the needs of locals. Governance of Waijungbah Jarjums sits with the Waijungbah Jarjums Consumer Advisory Group who continues to develop the model of care to best suit the local communities’ wants and needs.
Gold Coast Health’s Waijungbah Jarjums—which means place of mother and child—is proudly supported by Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, Clinical Excellence Queensland and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Division.
Starting at a new hospital in the area, proud Ngunnawal woman and Clinical Midwife Consultant Cassandra Nest noticed that very few women were identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander when accessing the Midwifery Group Practice.
This seemingly small observation was the catalyst for transformational change within Gold Coast Health’s Women’s, Newborns and Children’s Service as they empowered Cassandra to work alongside the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to co-design a new model of care that best meets their maternal and child health needs.
