Midwife Cath

Midwife Cath commenced her nursing career in May 1975 at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Cathryn studied to become a midwife at The Mercy Hospital in East Melbourne, Australia in 1979 and since then has been active in supporting women and families during birth and providing parenting advice and guidance. Cathryn has supported numerous women throughout the birthing process and was instrumental in the 1980's in setting up Birth Centres within Melbourne in order to promote active birth within a home like environment, as an alternative to traditional hospital labour wards. Midwife Cath's philosophy has always been to provide a supportive approach to birth whatever the method of delivery of the baby. Midwife Cath graduated as a Maternal and Child Health Nurse in 1984 and worked primarily in the public and not-for-profit sectors leading her to executive management roles in Community Health and Local Government, specialising in planning for service provision, managing community contracts and undertaking diverse projects as reflected by the needs of the community. In 2003 the Maternal and Child Health team Cathryn managed was awarded the Victorian Premiers Award for continuous improvement in Local Government. Cathryn was instrumental in developing the model of care for the Maternal and Child Health Service. Her knowledge of Maternal and Child Health Services within Victoria is current and over the past 2 years has reviewed several Maternal and Child Health Services for various Local Government organizations guiding MCH services through a variety of change management processes. Cathryn is highly regarded with a well established reputation in providing excellent community and health service consultancy within a vast range of programs in the local government and community sector. Cathryn has extensive experience in working with families within the Maternal and Child Health service area and maintains a close network with key agencies and communities around the issues of service innovation, parenting practices, awareness of child safety and development and early intervention programs. Cathryn previously worked casually at the Victorian State Government funded, 24 hour Maternal and Child Health Line. The MCH Line is a Victorian state-wide 24 hour telephone service providing information on parenting, childhood illnesses and support and advice to parents, grandparents or careers of children. The service is staffed by qualified Maternal and Child Health Nurses who provide callers with information, support and advice regarding child health, maternal and family health and parenting issues. Cathryn Curtin Consulting was formed in 2005 and Cathryn has provided private support to women and families in the immediate post-natal period within the clients home. The success of the in home support inspired Cathryn to set up the Curtin Day Stay Service. Cathryn saw the need of families to have on-going support post discharge from hospital, especially individual care of the woman post birth, assistance with correct attachment of the baby to the breast, treating sore cracked nipples, breast engorgement and mastitis and settling newborn babies and educating and supporting parents with sleeping routines for babies under 6 months of age.