RBWH midwife Liz Main is celebrating 50 years with Queensland Health

RBWH midwife Liz Main recently reached the phenomenal milestone of 50 years working within Queensland Health.

From her days working as a nursing student at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in 1972, to working at the Royal Women’s Hospital (now RBWH), then to Gladstone for 26 years, and back to RBWH from 2006, Liz has seen many changes in the midwifery and healthcare system.

Originally drawn to a career in nursing after hearing about the benefits during her time in boarding school, Liz remembers it being a natural progression for her to leave nursing to study midwifery. She fell in love with midwifery and decided to dedicate her life to the profession.

One of Liz’s proudest moments in her career was diagnosing a vasa praevia, a very rare condition where blood vessels travelling from the baby to the mother’s placenta, unprotected by placental tissue or the umbilical cord, pass near to the cervix, and supporting the mother to safely give birth to a healthy baby.

Over her 50 years as a midwife, Liz has seen a number of significant changes.

“We no longer use alcohol drips to prevent preterm labour and we’ve also moved away from hospital based training for nurses and midwives,” she said.

Overall, Liz prides herself on being kind to her colleagues.

“I’m lucky to work with amazing people every day and I try to treat them the way I would like to be treated,” Liz said.

Well done, Liz, on an incredible 50 years. Thank you for your dedication.