Sunday, September 26, 2010

Together we stand, divided we Fall


The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

A strange phenomenon occurring in the universe around Australia, their is great indecision around, everything seems to be 50/50; first we have an election that had all the bookies saying it will be very close; this therefore means a society that is split; split in every sense of the word; values; principles; taxes and the people who will lead us: there was no clear leader presented....or party..... what is that telling us about our present status? indecision; This means we will have an election sooner than later.... because a divided house will fall.

The AFL final that is a draw...not that I care really accept that I do like to know who wins and loses these main events.... fancy not having a sudden death outcome, like a 5th quarter, extra time.... goal kicks something rather than repeat the game...that seems like a huge money spinner for the AFL........it is time to rethink the rule about a drawn game......

Then we have the Midwifery legislation - Determination for collaborative care; which has the midwifery profession up in arms talking, lobbying at great lengths; however I do not believe for one moment that this is 50/50 it is more like 70/30; 70 for 30 against; The profession is unanimously agreed that the wording is not correct. However what splits them is whether to accept something that is not quite right or throw the whole thing out and not have it at all for possibly years to come.

An interesting point is that it is now in the hands of the parliamentarians... who are equally as indecisive.... in the mean time; women, midwives, homebirth midwives, independent midwives, consumer groups are all pitting themselves against each other, saying some horrible things...making accusations to each other who's right/wrong ... it is all very sad.... in many instances bullying each other to get the perceived upper hand just as bad as the politicians... and at the end of the day we will all lose...... WOMEN & MIDWIVES and the AMA is clapping knowing they are the true winners here!
Something is in the air!

How is it that there can be such diverse beliefs and each thinking there's is the only right way.......the Homebirth/independent contingent is the loudest complainant shouting the loudest saying we are destroying midwifery...but have never given it a go..... in the survey that I have conducted the numbers are 20:4 in favour of accepting rather than losing everything and the counting continues; If we use the election as a marker to what people believe we can see that life does go on... it is how you go forward to make it work is the real task....... what ever happens it is evident that there is a clear divide between midwives; and I firmly believe this is because not all midwives work within their scope of practice;

As for the future of midwifery "together we stand, divided we fall" that is up to us!

Interesting that the Gospel states; (eg. Mark 3:25: If a country divides itself into groups which fight each other, that country will fall apart". Never a truer word spoken.

PLEASE EVEN IF YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW BE KIND TO EACH OTHER;

Ref; picture & first quote comes from Why affirmations work

3 comments:

InfoMidwife said...

thanks Pam for your comment, I am holding out some glimmer of hope that we pull our heads in before this happens:

Anonymous said...

I think you are right. The majority of midwives will be happy to take what they are offered in the hope that they can change it later. Those who want medicare will pay out huge insurance costs, MPR, set up costs etc. then be unable to get collaborative agreements for women wanting to access their care. In a year they will then have evidence that it doesn't work. Perhaps the government will listen then.

I disagree with the decision to trust a negotiation process that historically has let us down. However, if the majority want it I will not stand in their way or bully fellow midwives. I hope those fellow midwives will stand by me in the future if the requirements for eligible midwives begin to get rolled out to the non-eligible. I'm not sure what you mean by: "what ever happens it is evident that there is a clear divide between midwives; and I firmly believe this is because not all midwives work within their scope of practice". I work within my scope despite being a homebirth midwife and I also collaborate well with GPs, Obs etc. This assumption is what I worry about. As a homebirth midwife I feel very marginalised by my own (ie. midwives) who have little understanding of how I practice. Will these midwives really stand together with me?

InfoMidwife said...

yes midwifethinking... I do wonder about trusting a system that has let us down, but we have no choice and if the government collapses so does our prospects of this legislation.
There are some independant
midwives that do not work within their scope of practice and I am not saying you are one of them... but unfortunately their reputation precedes them and therefore damage is created; i am a homebirth advocate but will only accept "low risk" women for anything else it is strict collaborative care and a hospital birth..... i know a few homebirth midwives that have good collaborative back up with the medico's but they are far and few between.... and the others have left a trail after them which no one will follow.... that is the tradegy....I could not get accepted into one hospital for a midwifery group practice because of the history of the independant midwives of that area... and it was the paediatrician's that would not agree... I am always working to change attitudes about independant midwives but unfortunately sometimes it is hard when there is clear evidence of poor performance;
i am very sad that you feel marginalised by fellow midwives; and that is not correct or just; and I would be very proud to stand with you:

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