Veteran Dawn Billingsley bids bittersweet farewell to Townsville University Hospital

Midwife Dawn Billingsley has helped shape thousands of lives across a 27-year career in Townsville

A VETERAN midwife, who has helped deliver thousands of children across the city, has called it a day on her stellar career.

And Dawn Billingsley couldn’t have asked for a more fitting farewell from her role as a midwife at the Townsville Birth Centre, delivering one last bundle of joy, this time, to her own niece Jemma Hurst. Over the past 27 years Mrs Billingsley has seen a raft of changes in the industry, starting her career at the Kirwan Hospital for Women, before moving to work at the Townsville Hospital and onto the birth centre for the past 13 years.

During her tenure, Mrs Billingsley was honoured as the Midwife of the Year in 2011, and has helped deliver 540 children at the centre alone.

“Including all the babies I’ve helped deliver, before working here at the Birth Centre, it would be in the thousands,” Mrs Billingsley said.

Some of the families she’s worked with have had as many as five children delivered by Mrs Billingsley, and they never fail to thank her for her help wherever they meet. “It’s been really rewarding, I run into them all the time, and you definitely remember them, they certainly remember you, it’s always nice to see them and catch up with them.”

Mrs Billingsley was one of the midwives who helped direct the formation of the Birth Centre as part of the steering committee, and has not only seen the industry progress in leaps and bounds, but also mentored many young nurses during her career.

“It does feel a bit surreal now looking back, but midwifery’s such an amazing job, to be able to facilitate so much stuff and to see how we do business change so much, it’s been really nice.”

Midwifery unit manager Sari Holland took her first steps as a midwife under Mrs Billingsley’s supervision and credited her with helping shape the next generation of midwives in Townsville.

“She can always be proud of that and it will be a legacy for her, she was one of the founding midwives here and she’s been here since 2008.

It’s a real loss to our community in Townsville, but we’re just so grateful to have had her spend so much time with us,” Ms Holland said.

While Mrs Billingsley acknowledged that it would be bittersweet to miss out on future children of families she’s cared for and developed such a strong bond with, she was confident that they were in good hands.

“We’ve got a lovely bunch of people here and it’s really nice to know we’re passing this on to a generation that really cares about women and their families,” she said.

Originally published as Veteran Dawn Billingsley bids bittersweet farewell to Townsville University Hospital