Antony Perry
11 May 2018: Two University of Canberra graduates claimed top honours at the 2018 ACT Nursing and Midwifery Awards on Thursday night.
Amelia Druhan, who graduated with a Bachelor of Midwifery in 2015, was named Midwife of the Year.
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ACT 2018 Midwife of the Year Amelia Druhan, left, and Nurse of the Year Joanne Lindbeck. Image: ACT Health
Ms Druhan is a registered midwife at Calvary Hospital and has established an antenatal parent education clinic for women with diverse cultural and linguistic needs and vulnerabilities. The clinic aims to improve women’s birthing and transition to parenthood experiences.
Ms Druhan said she has the best job in the world.
“I think midwifery is the best job in the world because our business is growing families,” she told ABC Radio.
“What midwives do, more than anything, is to create a space for women to be able to do what they can do naturally.
“I often reflect on the fact that women never forget the birth of their babies. Just recently I met a woman in her 90s, who when she found out that I was a midwife, shared with me her birth stories like they were just yesterday.
"It is a real privilege to be a part of something that is so important and so transformative for women.”
The Nurse of the Year Award went to Joanne Lindbeck, who graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing in 1994.
Ms Lindbeck works as a clinical nurse consultant in the medical emergency team at Canberra Hospital and is highly regarded for her kind and gentle approach to patients and their families, often in times of distress.
The University of Canberra congratulates Ms Lindbeck and Ms Druhan on these wonderful achievements.
