District 9560 has recently funded a highly successful Vocational Training Team (VTT) of midwives and nurses from Timor-Leste. Thirteen nurses and midwives were in Mackay to get further clinical education and training

Article by PDG Merewyn Wright, Assistant Rotary Coordinator and PDG Nick Curry, Assistant Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator

District 9560 has recently funded a highly successful Vocational Training Team (VTT) of midwives and nurses from Timor-Leste. A VTT is a group of professionals who either travel abroad to teach locals or are funded to learn more about their own fields. In this case, these thirteen nurses and midwives were in Mackay to get further clinical education and training to combat Timor-Leste’s alarmingly high rate of infant and maternal mortality.

The district, together with the Rotary Clubs of Mackay, Darwin, and Dili, brought the group to the Central Queensland University (CQU) campus in Mackay and to Mackay Base Hospital. There, they had five weeks of training and practical experience, focused on maternal and child health. Also involved were the hospital’s Women’s Health Unit, the Maternity Group Practice and Birth Centre.

Ms March, the Midwifery Educator at the hospital noted that, since many women in Timor-Leste have home births rather than hospital deliveries, this can result in extremely poor outcomes. So, the nurses and midwives were especially interested in the continuity of care models as a means to improve survival rates of both babies and mothers. They were also very much taken by the use of quality boards which show the Australian quality standards of care as this was part of the team’s training at CQU.

DG John Hall said that a major reason for getting the global grant was that Professor Lidia Gomes, president of the Midwifery Association of Timor-Leste, had identified capacity building as a critical area of focus to improve midwives’ quality of service and this was confirmed in the Foundation “Community Needs Assessment” as an area of focus as critical to Timor-Leste. Rotarian and Adjunct Professor, Belinda Jennings, called on her three years of experience working in Timor-Leste as a Midwife Consultant to design a special course of training to support the team’s continuing professional development. The course was delivered in Mackay by Belinda and Rotarian and Nursing Lecturer Ade Adeleye together with other CQU staff. As DG John Hall noted, this grant will be life-changing for Mothers and Babies in Timor-Leste.

This was an imaginative project that inevitably attracted media attention. Two commercial TV stations covered the visit and ABC breakfast radio also conducted an interview. In addition, the district, and the hospital, both used social media effectively.

Thus, as DG John noted, this grant not only makes a huge difference for families in Timor-Leste but also enhanced the image of Rotary in Central Queensland. In fact, one person at the University was so impressed by what they had seen, Rotary even got a new member directly as a result!

VTTs can only happen between two different countries. D9560 may have been fortunate in covering more than one nation. However, our zone has a number of countries, many of which would greatly benefit from similar exchanges. So why not ask your Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator (RRFC) or your ARRFC for advice.