Resignation as WA Board Director

The ACM vision........... is to be the leading organisation shaping Australian maternity care for the benefit of women and their families
The Australian College of Midwives (ACM) is the peak professional body for Australian midwives, which strives to maximize the quality of midwifery and maternity care for Australian women and their families through:
• Providing a unified voice for the midwifery profession.
• Supporting midwives to reach their full potential.
• Ensuring all childbearing women have access to continuity of care by a known midwife.
• Setting professional practice and education standards

I believe in the above vision that is why I was both delighted and honoured to be elected the WA Board Director, unfortunately for me the position has only lasted l2mths and it was a challenging year. I spent the first few meetings finding my feet and dealing with the personalities of everyone on the Board as well as assessing the current political situation. I met some phenomenal women on the Board... and everyone works with what they consider is the “best interest” of the ACM.

I feel that WA is in a unique position that we do not have some of the issues faced by our counterparts in the Eastern States. It saddens me to say that I have resigned (December 2010). I am bound by confidentiality of the Board and therefore I cannot divulge the reasons why I resigned except to say that the situation was untenable and I have the support of the whole WA executive committee. This has not been an easy decision it was painstakingly difficult. The decision was made in the best interest of the ACM and its membership.

I continue to support and believe in the ACM Nationally. I will continue to put all my energy into the WA Branch to encourage its growth, support the membership and foster collegial and political relationships to further the profession of midwifery in WA and one day I will return to the National Board. The ACM works to support all midwives, ensuring that childbearing women have access to continuity of midwifery care.
I do believe as a profession we need a strong national body to represent all midwives, a body that is respected and accepted by all midwives to take us forward into the 21st century and I believe that the ACM can deliver this.

Regards your servant Pauline Costins

WA Branch AGM: November 2010

Dear Members, my sincere apologies for reporting so late on the WA ACM AGM. November and December have been extremely busy for me and I have only now caught up with myself. I have quite a few stories to write to keep you updated, so will start in chronological order from the AGM.

As you all remember the AGM was 12th November combined with our yearly conference, this strategy of a yearly conference with a set date has proven to be successful and City West seems to be a great hit with all our members. The WA Branch has experienced a 20% growth in the last year, that is just fantastic and a special thank you to all the student midwives who make up a good percentage of the growth, as you are our future.....and we welcome your input to the College.

WA Branch of the ACM is growing in membership and continues to support its members and has a strong executive team working together for the members of WA. Congratulations to the new members of the executive committee; Liz Ashton, Carol Pinch, Sara Bayes, Liza Kennedy and Judith Wilson.

President Tracy Martin, Vice President Terri Barrett, Treasurer; Sylvia Jenkin, Secretary; Laura Robertson; WA National Director Pauline Costins, Minute secretary Trish Dempsey, Education Standards Janice Butt; Publicity & Merchandise Carli Beange; Aboriginal rep; Karen Kruit; Education Officer Liz Ashton, Education Committee – Carol Pinch, Judith Wilson, Sara Bayes; General committee: Liza Kennedy, Abbey Rodda, Sue Cudlip.

Ms Tracy Martin WA President opened the day, inspiring all who were present; It was a diverse program and as usual the presenters were of a great calibre; they included; Dianne Bond – Diabetes Service, Sadie Geraghty - Vitamin D; Renate McLaurin - Cannabis use and Pregnancy; Mother & baby unit – State-wide Mental Health unit; Debbie Slatter and Lesley Kuliukas – Childbirth Education, there were several other presentations..... All excellent. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day..... the food as usual was brilliant and plenty of it... we ended the day with a sundowner.... a grand way to finish off the day with a glass of red wine.....

A thank you goes to all the sponsors whose generous contributions made this event possible: St John of God Hospital Subiaco & Murdoch, Police and Nurses Credit Society; ACM WA Branch, WELDA & Cell Care; and a big thank you to all who attended the day and made it the success it was..... see you all next year.

Cheers Pauline

PS pictures coming.....