The maternity unit at Casey Hospital is celebrating 20 years of delivering babies.
There have been more than 37,500 births at the hospital in Berwick since the first baby was delivered there on 22 March 2005.
Original members of the unit’s maternity team recalled establishing the service two decades ago.
“Initially, there were six of us there with no patients and no other midwives, just setting up the unit, buying equipment and looking through new policies and procedures ready for the midwives to start,” Margaret Pickering said, who is the original associate Nurse Unit manager of the maternity unit, now nursing coordinator at Casey Hospital.
The unit’s first birth was highly anticipated.
“Every time the phone rang, a midwife ran to the phone, hoping it would be someone in labor coming in to have a baby!” she recalled.
“I remember the very first lady who did come into birth. Everyone was so excited, and everyone wanted to be part of the birth.
“And they put their names in a hat to draw out the midwife who was going to be the lucky person to be able to deliver the first baby at Casey.”
Ms Pickering is proud of the unit’s record of listening to and responding to the community’s wishes.
“We met with women and listened to what they wanted and put things together, things like water births and water immersion for labor that wasn’t offered at many maternity units back in those days,” she said.
“Later, we offered home birth.”
In the initial planning phase, Casey Hospital’s maternity unit was envisaged as a midwife-led service for low-risk births, with women experiencing any issues to be transferred to Dandenong Hospital for specialist care.
But, as planning progressed, it was decided that specialist obstetricians would be made available to come onsite at any time, allowing more women to safely deliver their babies close to home and their families.
“I was one of the six original obstetricians at Casey from day one. Three of us continue to work there,” Dr Mark Tarrant, head of Obstetrics at Casey Hospital, said.
“I see it as my family. It’s one of those places where it’s nice to come to work. It’s friendly.”
Casey Hospital started with 500 births a year. Its position in a high-growth area has since seen the number of births rise to 2,500 annually.
With more births, complex cases have also increased.
“The hospital has become a premier training site for specialist obstetricians. We now have 16 consultants on staff, of whom at least eight have trained at Casey Hospital. So, we’ve trained our own specialists through,” Dr Tarrant said.
The hospital manages low and high-risk pregnancies. Midwives provide the majority of care, with obstetricians on site Monday to Friday and available outside hours.
“We have developed very much a culture where midwives and doctors work as a team. We make sure we have the right person for the patient at the time they are required, and we work together,” Dr Tarrant said.
