Exciting opportunities available in Timaru for midwife training – Aoraki

There are exciting opportunities for Timaru-based training of midwives and the entire three-year midwife degree course on offer through Christchurch Polytechnic can be completed by students based in Timaru, Aoraki Polytechnic’s Certificate in Tertiary Studies course co-ordinator Leigh-Anne Mansell says.

She was commenting on a report made public today (eds: Timaru Herald, July 7) that quoted long-time Timaru midwife Dianne Cox as saying more people would take up midwifery if they could train here.

The Department of Labour has identified midwifery as having a genuine skill shortage and the Government is considering including midwives in the bonding scheme under which medicine and nursing students obtain student loan write-offs in exchange for working in rural areas of New Zealand.
Mrs Mansell said the polytechnic was aware of the skill shortage in the midwifery area of the health sciences and welcomed any Government bonding write-off initiative and District Health Board incentives to retain staff.

However, she said Aoraki was already working in the health sciences field to alleviate the skills shortage by offering pre-entry training and some papers that cross-credited into the degree courses on offer through other polytechnics.

She said CPIT (Christchurch Polytechnic) could provide distance learning facilities that enabled midwifery students to complete their degrees “from the comfort of their homes in Timaru”. “Aoraki maximises opportunities for students to complete the pre-entry requirements of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, English and mathematics.

The pre-entry course can be done here, meaning travel or out-of-town accommodation was not required for candidates at that early stage. It’s a huge advantage.

“On top of that, some of Aoraki health science courses such as developmental psychology, interpersonal skills, and mental health and addictions may be cross-credited to Otago Polytechnic’s Bachelor of Nursing providing another useful springboard to degrees without leaving home and saving travel, accommodation and other institution fees,” she said.

“From there, CPIT and Otago Polytechnic-driven distance learning facilities allow the Timaru-based student to complete their degrees.

” Mrs Mansell said she was aware of the interest in Timaru of such courses and could offer advice and support.

“We can provide solutions to the community when distance is a problem,” she said. “It’s important that our community knows there are options right here that will provide them with the qualifications they desire without the extra expense and family dislocation of moving to another centre,” Mrs Mansell said.

Interested members of the community were welcome to call her on (03) 684 0892.

ENDS

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