Business Profile
Originally established in 1994 to meet the growing need for breastfeeding support in the North Queensland area, Cairns Midwifery Service quickly expanded to include personalised childbirth education. As experienced midwives, lactation consultants, childbirth educators and mothers, the founding partners soon channelled their knowledge and skills to design and manufacture the Comfy Carry Baby Sling. This facet of the business has been an outstanding success, with the sling continuing to grow in popularity in both domestic and overseas markets.
The main objective of the business has always been the promotion and support of choice for childbearing families. In this era of information technology and global communication, new and even experienced parents are often inundated with conflicting modern opinions on birthing and child-rearing practices. Our aim is to sort through this mountain of data and present sound, practical and scientifically supported concepts so parents can make informed decisions about the birth and ongoing care of their child.
To find out more about the face behind Cairns Midwifery
Service, scroll to the bottom of this page to read a personal
biography on Vanessa Johnson one of the founding partners.
To discover more information about the various products and
services offered by the business, please navigate to the appropriate
page using the bar on the left of your screen.
Biography of Vanessa Johnson R.N. R.M. B.HSc IBCLC Grad Dip. CE
Hi and welcome to the Cairns Midwifery Service website! Here is a little information about myself as at July 2003:
I am currently fortunate enough to live in tropical north Queensland with my husband Geoff and our three children. Simon is 6, Daniel is 3 and Ellie, our latest addition, is 12 months old. Although I moved to Cairns from Sydney in 1991, I'm originally from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, approximately 2 hours west of Sydney.
Since I have always enjoyed working with people, nursing seemed like a perfect career choice. I completed my degree in Health Sciences in 1989 and continued to work in various departments in both the New South Wales and Queensland hospital systems. I always found it difficult to determine which aspect of nursing I enjoyed the most, that is, until I entered midwifery.
I absolutely love midwifery and found much of my role also involved education, my other passion. Soon after becoming a Certified Midwife in 1993, I began facilitating childbirth education classes at a hospital. Shortly thereafter I entered into private practice providing breastfeeding support to the community. It is this enterprise which eventually grew into the Cairns Midwifery Service. In between running a business and starting a family, I have completed other courses to enhance my knowledge base. These include qualifying as an IBLCE Lactation Consultant and a Graduate Diploma in Childbirth Education.
Promoting and supporting choice for childbearing families has always been my objective, and of course this has become the main focus of the business as well. Personally, I delight in assisting families to make informed decisions which will ultimately make the birth of their child a much more positive experience. Breastfeeding, the most basic health choice for mothers and babies, continues to be an important part of my belief structure, with the business still providing lactation consultations and support as a primary service.
As you can see my life is
rather busy at the moment and sometimes it seems impossible
to fit everything in! Nevertheless, I am remarkably fulfilled
in each of my roles and particularly grateful to my husband
and children for all their love and encouragement.