I am honoured by the invitation of Dr Odette Best to present a foreword to this vitally important book. I write mindful of the debt of gratitude I owe to Sister Alison Bush – loved, admired, respected nurse and midwife who shared her understandings and wisdom with me about mothers, babies and birthing, and so much more. My friendship with her mother, Connie, was important and influential throughout my life and for my family, too.
Yatdjuligin: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nursing and Midwifery Care is a very welcome and much needed textbook for nursing and midwifery students and their teachers. It will be a valuable reference for practitioners, researchers and all those with a commitment to improving Indigenous health.
Understanding the unique health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is critical to closing the gap – to addressing the disparities that continue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Current life differentials demonstrate the lack of efficiency in health service provision for Indigenous people. This is a matter of deep concern for Australians across our country.
This splendid text highlights, indeed celebrates, the achievements and contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives working in so many fields of their profession. What shines through the profiles of contributors is the breadth of their experience, their rigorous scholarship and their dedication to demanding roles and responsibilities often undertaken in tough environments. At the heart of their work is the way they create culturally safe nursing and midwifery practices. Their capacity to do so stems from the personal and the professional – through the lenses of Indigeneity and Western nursing and midwifery training.
I am inspired by the generous spirit of the editors and contributors in their insistence that the knowledge and skill that their work signifies can be learned by non-Indigenous people; that the ability to be culturally safe can be acquired by others.
Non-Indigenous people want to ‘get it right’ for and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Non-Indigenous nurses and midwives are keen to learn from their Indigenous colleagues about cultural practices that will enrich and enhance their professional skills and expertise.