Nadine Tipping has been a midwife for almost two decades and has experienced both the highs and lows of supporting women through labour.
Despite her wealth of experience, the 47-year-old said, “the day I stop being emotional at a birth, is the day I need to stop going”.
Tipping is a nurse and midwife with CareFlight Northern Territory, providing medical assistance to people in regional and remote areas in the Top End.
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During her six years with CareFlight, she’s delivered six babies in remote communities where women haven’t been able to reach a hospital in time for their birth.
In her previous role with the Royal Flying Doctors in Queensland, Tipping said she delivered a baby in the middle of an airstrip.
“She came from a homestead. We got to the point where we couldn’t load her and she actually birthed on the airstrip before loading,” she said.
“You try to maintain privacy as best as possible, so you might use bystanders to hold blankets up and things like that.”
Tipping said “empowering ” women when they are in their most vulnerable state is critical to doing her job well.
“We don’t have a lot of options that they have in hospitals. They don’t have access to epidurals or the other forms of strong pain relief,” she said.
“It’s really about supporting women at that time and letting them know their bodies are able to do this.
“(It’s) remaining positive throughout the situation and guiding them through the actual birth process and trying to help them understand what they’re experiencing is normal.”
Tipping said she once helped a woman give birth with a whole community of women surrounding and encouraging her, which was a powerful experience.
“I’ve had many cuddles with the families and that huge embrace between everybody there at the time … it’s a real celebration,” she said.
On top of the existing challenges of providing remote medical care, in some remote Indigenous communities where Tipping has worked there can be language barriers too.
Building rapport was crucial, Tipping said, as some women may have had negative experiences in the health system as a result of racism.
Tipping said medical staff also had to be aware of cultural norms in each community to build trust with the patients.
“It’s (about) using verbal cues, and using your body language to help guide and support them and using family and friends who do know English,” she said.
“We try and make every flight we do, no matter what the patient’s presented with, as positive as possible,” she said
“It is daunting for them because they’re getting removed from their community to be taken away to the big hospitals, which is a foreign environment for them. You really need to give that psycho-social support.”
International Women’s Day 2024 is focused on fostering inclusion for women globally.
CareFlight NT commended Tipping for her work in a social media post and said her effort to create an inclusive environment for staff and patients was “impactful and inspiring”.
“For Nadine, each birth is a testament to the power of compassion and care in the face of adversity, a cause for celebration on International Women’s Day and every day,” CareFlight said.
