Jaari was Hayley Williams’ third baby, but her first experience working with an Indigenous midwife.

Yuin woman Williams, 28, gave birth in Shoalhaven Hospital in Nowra a month ago with the support of midwife Mel Briggs from the Waminda South Coast Women’s Health Clinic.

Midwife Mel Briggs, wearing the “Sister Scrubs” to identify herself as Indigenous, Yuin woman Hayley Williams and baby Jaari.Credit:Janie Barrett

Williams said having an Indigenous midwife meant she felt “relaxed and receptive” to the information being provided, allowing for better communication about issues such as her diagnosis of gestational diabetes.

“I feel like another midwife would be able to build that rapport but with Mel being Indigenous, it was almost instant,” Williams said.

“It takes away the formalities – the relationship felt very casual, and I felt very comfortable that she had my best interests at heart.”

An initiative called “Huggies Sister Scrubs” will make it easier for mothers to know when they are being cared for by an Indigenous midwife, with the aim to improve better outcomes for Indigenous mothers and babies.

The Sister Scrubs, an initiative of the Rhodanthe Lipsett Indigenous Midwifery Charitable Fund supported by Huggies, is a special uniform for Indigenous midwives to visually identify themselves, helping engender trust and better communication.

Nationwide, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies are twice as likely to die in the first year of their life, according to the Closing the Gap Report 2020. In NSW, the perinatal mortality rate among babies born to First Nations mothers is 47 per cent higher than the rest of the population, based on the Mothers and Babies Report 2020.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has also found First Nations women were three times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth, compared with other women, between 2012 and 2019.

The Sister Scrubs design is based on original artwork by First Nations artist and midwife Leona McGrath and adapted by Aboriginal-owned designer and manufacturer Yilay.

Briggs, a scholar with the midwifery charitable fund, said fewer than 2 per cent of midwives across the nation were Indigenous and the Sister Scrubs would enhance their visibility.

“When women see a familiar face, or they feel connected to somebody on a spiritual level or a cultural level, it means a much better professional relationship, and deeper understanding. It allows our women to feel safe, so they’re more likely to engage and open up and feel that they will be cared for in a culturally respectful way,” Briggs said.

“When that doesn’t happen, women will not engage in services and that can then lead into further issues – it can lead to preterm birth, it can lead to miscarriage, it can lead to stillbirth, it can lead to a lot of poor outcomes.”

Briggs said non-Indigenous midwives sometimes had difficulty getting access to visit patients in their homes for follow-up care and breastfeeding support, unless they were accompanied by an Aboriginal health worker.

Sister Scrubs will start with 20 midwives connected with the charitable fund in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, but the goal is to eventually provide the uniforms to every Indigenous midwife in the country.

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