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Dear 20/20
I am so very sorry and sad for the entire Hooper family that Charley has many special needs. I am very aware that Jen and Mark's dreams for the first child will not be a reality and their life has taken on a whole different road than the one they were expecting and hoping for. This will never be an easy road, for anyone in the family, and they have my deepest and heartfelt sympathy.
As a midwife, a mother and a woman, my goal for every family that I care for is for a healthy mother and baby. I do everything in my power to help women achieve this by using all my knowledge, skills and experience gained over the last 26 years as a midwife. All babies are precious - far too precious to take any risks with. It is very hard when a healthy baby is not the result, whether expected or not, and these babies always stay with me in my memory and impact on my practice, and life, in various ways. I learn from them all, and their families.
My practice always has, and continues to be, reviewed regularly by NZCOM Midwifery Standards Review, and to maintain my annual practising certificate, I have to ensure that all the Midwifery Council requirements are met - which includes Annual Neonatal CPR education. An Advanced Neonatal Resuscitation day has become available for the first time this year and I have already attended this 1-day intensive course in the hope that it will further help me if I am ever in another difficult resuscitation situation again.
Yours sincerely,
Hilary Hoover
Dear 20/20
As a woman, mother and midwife my heart goes out to Charley's family as they cope daily with her disabilities. Over the past three years I have lived with the trauma of the events surrounding Charley Hooper's birth. Not a day goes by that I don't think about them all.
On the day of Charley's birth I provided care within the scope of my practice and acted on the emergency in assessing and stabilising Charley and her mother Jen.
Since this time my practice has been extensively reviewed, firstly by the Health and Disability Commissioner and then the Midwifery Council. The recommendations from Midwifery Council were that I attend an advanced neonatal resuscitation workshop, which I had already organised, and have since attended. Annually, I have always maintained my competency by attending the elective and compulsory education programmes available to maintain a safe practice, and will continue to do so as long as I practice midwifery. No one prepares for an unexpected outcome but at times these do happen despite all our efforts, knowledge and expertise used to try to prevent them.
Those closest to me know the heartache I have lived with over these years and the time I spend thinking about the family, and how their lives have been sadly altered in caring for Charley. My thoughts are with them.
Yours sincerely,
Sue van Dam
