When Kate isn’t helping with the birth of babies, she is likely found traversing rocky mountain ranges, in training for ultra-marathons.
Her commitment baffles, and intrigues, many of her colleagues, but for Kate – a Clinical Midwife Specialist at Bendigo Health – early morning training, five times week, to be able to run 100K+ challenging trails is just something she loves doing.
She has always dabbled with running, but her passion grew post babies from a humble 0 – 5km running group. This inspiring group of local women encouraged each other to run mountain trails, and step by step the distances got bigger to 30k then to 100k.
“I think I am reliant on the endorphins. I love the challenge of pushing myself beyond my perceived boundaries, beyond what I feel comfortable with. The crew I run with are so supportive and we push each other to our absolute limits,” she said.
“They’re my confidants, my support crew, my motivation. The many hours spent together and the challenges endured creates a special relationship, and you have to love those post run endorphins. Being out there for so many hours, you’re that tired and drained, yet you’ve managed to achieve something amazing. It’s a different kind of meditation out there.”
It’s not hard to relate those aspects to the hospital environment when you’re putting in long hours, everyone is working together and supporting each other, and people’s health outcomes are at stake. For midwives, of course, a baby born is always an emotional celebration, but midwives also bear witness to great loss. It’s an extremely rewarding, and challenging, profession.
Kate recently progressed from her role of a Nurse and Registered Midwife to Clinical Midwife Specialist, which involves managing staff on the wards, auditing, research and quality improvement projects.
“I’m still quite new to the role and it’s a huge challenge for me but one that I’m relishing,” said Kate.
Kate speaks fondly of her colleagues. “What I love about midwifery at Bendigo Health is that it is a relatively small, intimate unit. You have the opportunity to build relationships with staff within midwifery, obstetrics and the multidisciplinary teams. You have the ability to build more personal contact with staff, but also with our women. You see them in multiple different stages of their journey, I feel like I get a lot of job satisfaction from that personal interaction,” she said.
Kate is also using her passion to fundraise, conquering the Mt Bulla Oscars 100k challenge to raise money for autism services.
“My little community at home and my colleagues at Bendigo Health raised over $1390 in 2022 and over $2900 in 2021. That encouragement and willingness to support emotionally and financially from my work team is fantastic,” she said.
“Next challenge: 100 miles in the Victorian High Country in November. Wish me luck!”
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