Providing Community Midwifery care in the beautiful North Western Coromandel

 
   

 

A little bit about me

Hi.  I'm  Sheryl Wright  and I began my career as a community midwife in 2004, working in the rural and remote rural areas of the North Waikato.   In 2019 I moved to the northern Coromandel where I have continued my passion for providing rural primary midwifery care.   I'm the proud Mum of three (now adult) children and recently became a 'Grammy' for the third time.    Experiencing the joys (and demands!) of pregnancy, birth and becoming a mum inspired me to become a midwife and I enjoy supporting women and families during this special time.     After many years working with a huge variety of women I still believe that the secret to achieving a positive pregnancy and birthing experience is having the right attitude and excellent support.   In my spare time you’ll find me spending time with my family, with my head in a book, out in the garden or in the kitchen.

What area do you cover?

I cover the upper and western side of the Coromandel peninsula from Port Jackson to Manaia, including Colville, Kennedy Bay & Coromandel Town. 

What services do you offer?

I provide friendly, supportive, flexible and professional care including:

  • Free Pregnancy Testing

  • Antenatal care including referrals for pregnancy testing (such as blood tests & ultrasounds) and information / resources to help you make a birth plan

  • Labour and birth care.   For women who are low-risk I can provide your labour and birth care at the Thames Birthing Unit.    The option of a homebirth may also be available for women who have previously had an uncomplicated birth however this is subject to a second midwife being available to attend which can be challenging with the current midwifery shortages in this area.  For women who chose to birth outside of the region or who need to birth at a hospital due to their more complex needs in consultation with you I will refer you to your choice of provider (e.g. another community midwife living closer to your planned birth location or if your needs are complex the specialist hospital team at Waikato Hospital) and will share you care with them.  

  • Postnatal care in your own home (or other location at your request) for one month after the birth

  • Prescriptions relating to the pregnancy and post-natal period, including some contraception options

  • Referral to your chosen Well Child / Tamariki Ora Provider / GP  and other health care practitioners, medical specialists and support agencies if / when required

All midwifery services are fully funded by the Ministry of Health (if you are a NZ citizen, resident or have a work visa). However during your pregnancy you may need to pay for additional services such as ultrasound scans, prescription part charges, childbirth education classes and optional tests at private laboratories.


When will I see you?

Regular antenatal and postnatal visits are a very important part of your care.  Most of my care is provided via pre-booked weekday appointments, typically in your home or at my clinic's in either Coromandel town (Wednesday afternoons) or Amodeo Bay (as needed).  

Your partner, family and support people are always welcome and encouraged to be part of your visits.  The schedule of visits will be negotiated with you but typically are recommended as follows:  booking visit (ideally by 10 weeks), 16 weeks, 24 weeks, 28 weeks, 31 weeks, 34 weeks, 36 weeks, 38 weeks, 39 weeks, 40 weeks and then as needed until your baby is born.  Once your baby is born I will visit you at your home (or other location on request) for one month (minimum of five home visits). 

As you can imagine the schedule of a remote rural midwife can be unpredictable due to the travel distances, road conditions and the difficulty of planning appointments around urgent care.   So please understand that at times I might be running a little early or late, or may need to reschedule your appointment, but I will make every effort to keep you informed.   To assist with this please ensure I can always contact you by letting me know if you change your phone number or address.

If you are not able to keep your appointment please contact me as well in advance as possible and I will do my best to arrange a new date and time. Please be aware that if you do not cancel and then miss your appointment you may have to wait for my next clinic day to be seen.  I am also required to document in your notes that you ‘did not attend’ a booked appointment as research shows that non-attendance or under-attendance for pregnancy care carries a substantially elevated risk of severe adverse pregnancy outcomes which puts you, your baby and me as a midwife at risk.  Unfortunately if appointments are frequently missed I may need to ask you to make other arrangements for your on-going maternity care.

Sadly many health professionals, including community midwives, are increasingly being subjected to incidents of intimidation, threatening and abusive behaviour from both clients and support people.  While stress, anxiety, grief and fear can cause people to act in a way they wouldn’t normally there is never an excuse for aggressive bad behaviour and all forms of violence (both words and actions) will not be tolerated.  As a result depending on the level of violence I may need to withdraw from your care and / or the Police may need to be involved.

Please also ensure that when I visit you at home that your home is a safe environment.  This includes making sure that all animals are tied up.

 

What happens when you are off-call?     

As a community midwives I am available "on call" 24/7 for urgent care.    As I am sure you will understand providing this care is demanding and unpredictable so it's essential I get regular time off "off-call" to rest and recuperate, not only for my own health and wellbeing, but also to ensure I can do my best for you and your baby when I am "on call".    Most of my time “off-call” is planned in advance  (e.g weekends off, annual leave, attending the meetings / study days required for my continuing education) but at times I might need to go “off-call” unexpectedly, if for example I am fatigued, am unwell, or have a family commitment / emergency.  At these times I will be supported by  a locum midwife (or other midwives from the region) to ensure you are always offered the safest possible care.   I understand it can be disappointing when I am unavailable but I ask you to please respect my own self-care and understand that I have a life and family outside of work, just like you do. 

 

What happens if my pregnancy becomes complicated?

Community midwives specialise in providing maternity care within the "primary” (normal) scope of practice.  Although I hope everything goes smoothly for you a vital part of my role is to recognise when aspects of your pregnancy, labour, birth or postnatal care may have deviated from normal. If this occurs, in consultation with you, I will arrange a (free) referral to the medical / obstetric team at the hospital.

If you then require ongoing “secondary” care (also known as “complex” or “high risk” care) then after discussing this with you and the hospital team it will be agreed who is best to now provide your maternity care. For minor concerns I am likely to remain your main carer, working together with the hospital team.  However if your needs are more complex then responsibility for your care will likely be transferred to the hospital team.  I will then take on the role of providing support and advocacy working closely with the hospital team and / or remaining in regular contact with yourself and the hospital team in order to maintain your continuity of care.

All midwives are trained to provide emergency care should this become necessary.


How do I contact you?  

New Clients

I look forward to hearing from potential new clients.    Please contact me to check on my availability and we will then make an appointment to meet and discuss your options.   If phoning please make contact during business hours (Monday to Friday: 9am - 5pm)  on (022) 500 1310  or send an email 

Existing Clients

Emergencies / Urgent Contacts: 

If you need to contact me URGENTLY (e.g. You are concerned about you or your baby’s well-being or you are in labour) please always PHONE me on (022) 5001310   If your call is answered by voicemail (which can happen if I am on another call, am busy with another client or am in an area with poor mobile phone coverage) please leave a message and I will ring you back as soon as I can.   If you do not receive a reply within 5 – 10 minutes please try again as unfortunately the mobile phone network in the rural Coromandel is poor and subject to weather conditions.  

  • It is very important that you do not text with urgent queries or medical questions as there are frequently long delays in text messages being received, medical advice can’t be given via text due to the risk of misunderstandings and texts can not be forwarded to my locums when I am off-call.

  • If you are feeling unwell and it is NOT pregnancy related please see your doctor or after hours medical clinic.

  • Please remember it is your responsibility to ensure you are always able to make contact. This means making sure you always have enough credit on your phone to make calls.

Non-Urgent Contacts:  (e.g. change of appointments, non-urgent questions). 

Please restrict all non-urgent contacts to within business hours e.g. Monday to Friday: 9am - 5pm.

 

 

Click here for pregnancy, birthing and parenting links
 

 

Copyright © Sheryl Wright 2003   Last modified: 10 Nov 2022