Meet Hawke’s Bay DHB’s Māori midwifery new graduate, Monique Owen, who is one of a growing number of Māori midwifery graduates.
In 2019 HBDHB Tūruki scholarship recipient Monique proudly graduated from Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) with her Bachelor of Midwifery recently.
Born and bred in Hawke’s Bay, Monique says it’s great to finally be home surrounded by whānau as she embarks on her midwifery career.
“I obviously travelled a lot between Waikato and Hawke’s Bay while studying and being on placements, so it’s really great to finally be back and settled here.”
Based in Ata Rangi, Monique says she hadn’t intended on becoming a midwife but as fate would have it, walking into an impromptu careers lecture while in Auckland took her down a new path.
“I actually thought I wanted to be a physiotherapist so I attended a careers lecture at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). I remember being not overly excited by what I heard, so I knew it wasn’t for me. Then I went into a midwifery lecture not really thinking much but I just remember sitting there listening to the lecturer at the time who was so inspiring and enthusiastic and I was just hooked.”
Monique explains pregnancy and child birth wasn’t foreign to her.
“I guess pregnancy and birth stems back quite far for me because I’m the second to oldest of six siblings so I was attending antenatal appointments with my mum and helping her with post-natal care when I was growing up. I guess it felt comfortable and seemed a natural fit.”
Monique says HBDHB’s Tūruki scholarship helped her immensely while studying. Tūruki is the Māori health workforce development strategy for HBDHB, providing scholarships for Māori, career advice and support, Tuakana/Teina interships and other education initiatives.
“The financial assistance was huge and helped me to get through really.
“I was very fortunate to also carry out all of my placements during study in Ata Rangi so I also got to know the team and environment well which has made officially starting very seamless.
“In training you need to achieve facilitating 40 births, but I managed 44 over the past three years here in Hawke’s Bay. Everyone has been really supportive and it’s been really nice to build relationships during my training.”
HBDHB Māori Midwifery Consultant Kiley Hewett says Monique’s appointment is hopefully just the start of growing and empowering our Māori midwifery workforce.
She says last month’s funding announcement by the Ministry of Health pledging $6m over the next four years for the specific purpose of increasing recruitment and retention of Māori and Pasifika undergraduate midwifery students, was promising.
The announcement was a joint project between Aotearoa’s midwifery education providers and the Ministry of Health. It will see AUT University hold the contract with the Ministry, with a memoranda of understanding across the other four midwifery education providers: Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University, Ara Institute of Canterbury (Ara) and Otago Polytechnic.
Monique’s Pepeha
Ki te taha o tōku papa
Ko Tuhoe te iwi
Ko Maungapohatu te maunga
Ko Ruakituri te awa
Ko Erepeti tōku marae
No Ahuriri ahau
Ko Monique tōku ingoa
Ko Owen tōku whānau
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