Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Midwife changing the world, with one family at a time

By Rebecca Malcolm
Rotorua Daily Post·
4 May, 2014 08:16 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Midwife and acting Lakes District Health Board clinical midwife manager Joyce Barrow loves her role.Photo/Supplied

Midwife and acting Lakes District Health Board clinical midwife manager Joyce Barrow loves her role.Photo/Supplied

Joyce Barrow loves being part of a new mum's journey, seeing a new baby born and the smiles of the family at the birth.

As a midwife and the acting Lakes District Health Board clinical midwife manager, it's something she's become very familiar with.

Today is International Midwives Day and the theme this year is "Midwives changing the world, one family at a time".

Ms Barrow has been working as a Lakes District Health Board midwife for 11 years as part of the 25-strong health board midwifery team, alongside some agency midwives.

Health board midwives support independent lead maternity carers (LMCs) when they birth babies in the hospital. On occasion, if a woman turns up in hospital without an LMC, health board midwives take the lead role in birthing the baby and then look for an independent midwife to provide post-natal care in the community,

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ms Barrow, who is originally from Guyana in South America, trained there as a nurse for three years and then as a midwife for two years, completing her training in 1985.

Ms Barrow worked in a hospital straight after she trained in gynaecological and maternity wards and then a private non-governmental clinic which included sexual reproduction, family planning and fertility issues. Pregnant women in Guyana see an obstetrician for their antenatal care at a government-funded clinic and then the midwives on duty at the hospital birth the baby. They do not have the one-to-one on-going care by the same midwife as we do in New Zealand, she said.

"Maternity care in New Zealand is wonderful because women have the benefit of building a connection with the same midwife throughout their pregnancy, birth and post-natal period for six weeks."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She chose to be a health board midwife because there were regular shifts rather than the lifestyle choice of an independent midwife. It fitted better with her family life and four children, she said.

Ms Barrow left Guyana with her family in 1999 and went to work in Botswana at a 24-hour maternity clinic. They came to New Zealand in 2003 to her job at Lakes District Health Board and she hasn't looked back.

"I like the team spirit here at Lakes DHB. It's like working in a big family."

Discover more

New Zealand

Midwife told to apologise

18 May 05:00 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

NZ Super Fund-backed Kaingaroa Timberlands expands with Waikato land purchase

01 Jul 05:43 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Zespri teams up with Dame Lisa Carrington

01 Jul 03:30 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Compliance concern: Growers oppose proposed geothermal water regulations

01 Jul 12:00 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

NZ Super Fund-backed Kaingaroa Timberlands expands with Waikato land purchase

NZ Super Fund-backed Kaingaroa Timberlands expands with Waikato land purchase

01 Jul 05:43 AM

Kaingaroa Timberlands has bought 9200ha of forestry land in South Waikato.

Zespri teams up with Dame Lisa Carrington

Zespri teams up with Dame Lisa Carrington

01 Jul 03:30 AM
Compliance concern: Growers oppose proposed geothermal water regulations

Compliance concern: Growers oppose proposed geothermal water regulations

01 Jul 12:00 AM
Fresh weather warnings issued for BoP

Fresh weather warnings issued for BoP

30 Jun 11:29 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP