Williana Micock, Christianne Belle clock 44 and 38 years of midwifery services   |06 May 2022

Long serving midwives Williana Micock and Christianne Belle (photo right) receiving their tokens of appreciation, including bouquets of flowers, hampers and shields from Health Minister Peggy Vidot (Photos: Thomas Meriton)

Midwives Williana Micock and Christianne Belle have been honoured by the Ministry of Health for their long years of dedicated services of bringing new lives into the world.

Mrs Micock has accumulated 44 years of service, while her colleague Mrs Belle has dedicated 38 long years to the profession of helping mothers deliver their babies.

Both long-serving midwives received tokens of appreciation, including bouquets of flowers, hampers and shields from Health Minister Peggy Vidot, during a special ceremony held yesterday at the auditorium of the Sheikh Khalifa Diagnostic Centre at the Seychelles Hospital.

The ceremony which also coincided with the International Day of the Midwife was attended by principal secretary of health Dr Bernard Valentin, deputy chief executive of the Health Care Agency Kathleen Cecile, chief nursing officer Dr Gylian Mein, midwives and other health professionals.

The International Day of the Midwife is celebrated annually on May 5 as a global recognition and celebration of the work of midwives.

The chosen theme for 2022 is ‘Midwives: Together We Care’, which is to reflect on the countless challenges of the past two years linked with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Addressing the guests, acting nurse manager Jacqueline Paulin noted that over the past year midwives have met an extraordinary milestone in their profession.

“The priority of keeping women, babies and their families safe during the pandemic means that midwives can balance the restriction to practice strict infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, whereby to maintain safe, effective, equitable, respectful, kind and compassionate care,” said Ms Paulin.

The longest serving midwife, Mrs Woodcock started her journey at the age of 17 in 1978 when she enrolled to train as a nurse.

Later, in 1981 after successfully completing her nursing education, she did her midwifery training, and has stayed at the maternity section until this day.

Mrs Micock who will retire this year, said she never thought she was going to stay in the midwifery profession for so many years.

“I took some time to take the decision to stay in midwifery after getting an offer from the nurse in charge and I have remained there ever since due to my love for babies,” said Mrs Micock.

She added that she has faced many challenges when it comes to relatives, patients in pain and visiting hours, while the moment that marked her career was when she realised that an un-born baby’s heart rate was dropping and she immediately informed the doctor, saving the lives of both mother and child through a C-section.

As advice for young future nurses, Mrs Micock said midwifery is challenging, frustrating as they will have the responsibility of two patients and when a death occurs, they also feel overwhelmed and sad.

She however noted that there is nothing to be afraid of but to continue as midwifery is a noble profession.

Mrs Belle, on her part, noted that even if they are not usually appreciated and valorised, she loves her job regardless of the constraints.

Like her colleague, she also started at the age of 17 and went straight into midwifery after her nursing training.

At the beginning, she said, she did not think that she would stay long in the career but after building a strong relationship of trust with the patients she felt accepted and the trust enabled her to stay in the profession.

In terms of challenges, Mrs Belle said it was hard to leave the family behind to go to work on other islands, while being on call was also a bit challenging.

She says the most notable moment in her career is hearing the first cries of the babies after they have been successfully delivered.

Minister Vidot, the midwives and professionals present also commemorated the occasion by   cutting a cake.

Marla Simeon