A total of $2000 raised on the day was recently donated to the Moree hospital maternity unit to help in the renovation of the birthing room en-suite.

Maternity unit manager Barbara Schultz was thrilled to receive the funding, and said the money would be used for infrastructure to provide local women with a water immersion option.

“Best practice shows that the benefits of water immersion for labour include less painful contractions, less need for pain relief drugs, shorter labours and less need for intervention,” Mrs Schultz said.

“This practice is embedded in the care that is offered to the women birthing at Moree maternity unit and is supported by the focus of promoting natural birth. 

“Our mission is to enable the women of our community to benefit from the use of a facility that is contemporary and safe,” she said.

“To achieve this Moree midwives have set as one of their goals the renovation of the birthing room en-suite.”

Mrs Schultz said Moree hospital pride itself on its high natural birth rate and her team were keen to support and promote natural birth in any way possible.

Last financial year there were 177 births in the Moree hospital, of which over 70 per cent were normal, which is well above the state average.

Moree also has an epidural rate of less than seven per cent. 

Moree on a Plate president, Mary-Kate McCormick, said the committee was excited to see funds raised from its raffle donated to such a worthy recipient.

“It is so important that women and families in regional areas have access to a maternity unit and here in Moree we are so lucky that we have an outstanding service, giving women the convenience and confidence to birth locally,” Mrs McCormick said.

“We should all be proud of this service and the good work of our local midwives.

“It’s an absolute asset to our community and we are so pleased to be able to donate this money to help further strengthen the local unit,” she said.